Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In

Yesterday, Theodore "Ted" Kheel's traffic plan was officially unveiled with a 52-page report (pdf) outlining his proposal to make transit free via a round-the-clock $16 congestion charge for cars ($32 for trucks) entering Manhattan below 60th Street. The report says Kheel's "Bolder Plan" would cut CBD traffic by 25 percent, and traffic citywide by nearly 10 percent, all while increasing mass transit funding and decreasing the number of overcrowded trains and buses.

Skeptical? So was lead author Charles Komanoff, he says, until he delved into the data. Not only do the numbers add up, Komanoff writes, the Kheel plan offers an irresistible political hook:

Don Shoup wrote recently that the dilemma confronting congestion pricing is not that opposition is too high, but that support is too low. Free transit resolves this dilemma by offering as tangible a benefit as one can imagine. As I said last week to a legislator from Central Brooklyn who has lined up against the mayor's congestion pricing plan, "Are you really going to tell your constituents that you walked away from a plan that would let them ride the trains and buses for free?" I wish you'd seen his double-take, followed by: "Um, okay, what's this Kheel Plan again, and how exactly is it going to work?"

A highlight of the Kheel plan is the Balanced Transportation Analyzer, an interactive spreadsheet that lets users compare the different congestion pricing proposals (download it here). "Unlike the opaque 'black box' models used throughout the Transportation-Industrial Complex," writes Komanoff, "the BTA reveals its hundreds of underlying assumptions and their interrelationships. It is a true citizen's tool."

Whether this is all too much, too late, considering the Congestion Mitigation Commission's January 31 deadline, and whether or not it's conceivable that the city and all affected bureaucracies would tolerate such a tectonic shift regardless of potential upsides, by leading with the carrot of free transit and following with the stick of congestion pricing, the Kheel planners have shown how Mayor Bloomberg's proposal could have been promoted from day one. On the other hand, it also makes one wonder what might have been if they had brought that approach to the mayor's plan, and pushed along with everyone else.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Thursday’s Headlines: Gateway ‘Terminator’ Edition

President Trump abruptly announced he'd "terminated" the Gateway Tunnel project while taking aim at Chuck Schumer. Plus more news.

October 16, 2025

Trump’s Electrification Cuts are Short-Sighted: Report

EV infrastructure is far more valuable to the nation's prosperity and jobs market than the White House believes, according to a new report.

October 16, 2025

Wednesday’s Headlines: Another Highway Boondoggle Erased Edition

Maybe the worm has turned on these awful boondoggles? Plus other news.

October 15, 2025

Book Excerpt Special: ‘War on Cars’ Hosts Explore Life After the Automobile

...and why it's so urgent that we work for a better future.

October 15, 2025

State Pauses Billion-Dollar Route 17 Expansion in Hudson Valley

One of the biggest highway boondoggles in the state may finally die a merciful death, thanks to Gov. Hochul.

October 14, 2025

Delivery Workers Continue Push For Deactivation Protections

Delivery workers put pressure on the City Council to pass a bill that would give them "just cause" protections.

October 14, 2025
See all posts