Manhattan Institute Panel: Road Pricing Worked in London. Can It Work in New York?

2:35 PM EST on November 17, 2006

The Center for Rethinking Development at the Manhattan Institute presents . . .

A Panel Discussion and Breakfast:
Road Pricing Worked in London. Can It Work in New York?
What New Yorkers Think

Is New York City choking on its own traffic? Gridlock, pollution, and noise lead many New Yorkers to think so. But every traffic-easing solution involves costs imposed on citizens and businessesâ€š and therefore meets steep resistance. Faced with heavy traffic of its own, London initiated a congestion pricing scheme in 2003 that is now widely regarded as successful. Would some variation on road pricing work in New York?

A new report on the feasibility of road pricing in New York, Battling Traffic: What New Yorkers Think, by transportation consultant Bruce Schaller, will be released by the Manhattan Institute. New findings on the economic impact of congestion pricing in Londonâ€š and the implications for New Yorkâ€š will be discussed by Partnership President Kathryn Wylde. Congestion-pricing advocate Samuel Schwartz and congestion-pricing opponent David Weprin will offer their analyses of these issues.

Speakers:

Bruce Schaller Principal, Schaller Consulting
Kathryn Wylde President & CEO, Partnership for New York City
Samuel Schwartz President & CEO, Sam Schwartz Engineering, PLLC
City Councilman David Weprin 23rd District, Queens; Chairman, New York City Finance Committee

Moderator:

Hope Cohen Deputy Director, Center for Rethinking Development

Aaron Donovan

Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York's pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.

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