Thursday’s Headlines: Garden State Commuters Edition

The number of drivers coming into lower Manhattan from New Jersey jumped almost 10 percent in each of the two cross-Hudson River tunnels during last month's three-day strike by by New Jersey Transit engineers.

Data collected by the MTA shows the number of cars up 8.6 percent through the Lincoln Tunnel and up 7.2 percent through the Holland Tunnel from May 16 to May 19, the days that NJ Transit service didn't run due to the strike, compared to three previous weeks. Overall the two tunnels saw an average of 5,457 more cars per day entering lower Manhattan.

As Streetsblog has reported, the drop in car traffic in to the city since congestion pricing started on Jan. 5 has had plenty of positive results, like fewer crashes and faster bus speeds in Manhattan. There has even been a drop in traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway and no spike in spillover traffic on bridges that don't connect to lower Manhattan.

It's not surprising then that car trips increased when New Jersey was missing its main transit option into New York City. According to Charles Komanoff, a transportation economist whose traffic modeling helped make the case for congestion pricing, the brief spurt of extra traffic managed to negate somewhere between 10 percent and 15 percent of the improvement in travel speeds and time savings from congestion pricing.

Mass transit advocates on the other side of the river pointed to the car spike as proof that the Garden State needs more reliable train service.

"What we saw those four days without commuter rail service is a sneak peek at a future without mass transit," said New Jersey Policy Perspective analyst Alex Ambrose. "Even on four of the lowest ridership days, there were thousands of extra cars driving into the city, clogging up our roads and tunnels and making everyone’s commute worse."

"The more people we get out of cars and on to trains and buses, the better our region will be. Having a robust and reliable mass transit system means faster commutes, better air quality, and safer roads for everyone."

— Reporting by Dave Colon

In other news:

• Brad Lander won the coveted StreetsPAC endorsement, with "by far the most comprehensive blueprint ... we've ever seen from a candidate for any office." Streetsblog Editor-in-Chief Gersh Kuntzman grilled Lander at StreetsPAC's announcement on Wednesday. Here's a transcript:

Kuntzman: You've spoken a lot about street safety, with regulating app companies as well as reining in cars. But can you put that in the context of what is going on at City Hall right now, with the mayor and Council only focusing on e-bikes?

Lander: I have said I would like to keep Jessie Tisch as police commissioner, but to be cracking down with criminal summonses on cyclists, that is not the way to keep New Yorkers safe. First, Sammy’s Law. I mean, a lot of us knew Sammy Cohen. He was killed by a car on the Prospect Park West. We did a study that dug in on the question of what kinds of crashes are, are causing injuries and deaths. And there is an increase in mopeds hitting people, but it’s still minuscule relative to the harm that cars are causing. So if you want to save lives and produce injuries, deploy sammy’s law to bring the speed limit down for cars, which do the most harm. And if you want to confront — which the mayor should — moped and e bike issues, hold the apps accountable, which Andrew Cuomo is never going to do with a million dollars from DoorDash. Uber and Lyft are accountable for the for-hired vehicle driver trips that they make money on, and Uber Eats and DoorDash and Seamless should be accountable for the trips that they make money on. You want to deal with mopeds and e-bikes, increase safety and reduce crashes, that’s the way to do it.

Kuntzman: Why do you think Cuomo drives everywhere?

Lander: It’s funny. So Aaron Naparstak uses this phrase, "mode rage." It’s like a take off on road rage, but it just recognizes that like where you are in transportation does say a lot about you. His style of leadership is like using his finger to poke people in the chest. He imagines himself behind the wheel, but most New Yorkers take the subway or take the bus and need a mayor who thinks like they do and is in it for them, not just in it for his own ego. But that’s what Cuomo shows us every day.

In still other news:

• NYPD's e-bike criminal summonses are mostly getting dismissed. (NY1)
• Stop signs for cyclists on Bedford Avenue won't solve the problem of drivers blocking school bus boarding zones. (Williamsburg365)
• OMNY users are getting multiple charges for the same trip on their bills, but the MTA says it's nothing to worry about. (Gothamist)
• Outdoor dining saved a Chinatown bar — now grumpy locals want it shut down. (Gothamist)
• Lyft's new e-bike model looks lighter (and better). (Lyft Urban Solutions)
• Watch Zohran Mamdani face down DJ Envy's whiny lies about congestion pricing: "Foot traffic has increased in the central business district. Noise complaints are down by a significant amount." (Breakfast Club via YouTube)

• Andrew Cuomo's car is a magnet for news media. (Jeff Mays via Bluesky)
• The Trump administration is proposing funding for Gateway Tunnel and the Second Avenue Subway. (Crain's)
• A hit-and-run driver killed a moped rider in Queens on Tuesday. (Patch)
• Tom Scocca looks at Cuomo's positions on trash containerization. (Defector)
• Changes coming to BQE Exit 31. ... Sound off in the comments. (WMSBG via X)