John Kaehny

Kevin Sheekey: Bring this man home to talk about the transit improvements congestion pricing will fund.

Webster Avenue and Fordham Road, the Bronx

As usual, traffic was heavy on 125th Street outside the Alhambra Ballroom in central Harlem, Wednesday evening, where the Department of Transportation held its fourth of seven planned workshops to discuss parking strategies in neighborhoods bordering the City's proposed congestion pricing zone.

Michael Frumin, who worked with the Regional Plan Association to develop the intriguing Triboro RX concept a while back, has a vintage 1969 Mailer-Breslin mayoral campaign poster up on his Frumination blog today. The artwork was squirreled away by Frumin's grandfather for 30 years. It's worth a look. 

Speaking of bike parking, 10,000 new bike parking spaces have been installed in 400 London schools since the 2004 launch of the Mayor's School Cycle Parking Programme, Transport for London announced yesterday. This year alone TfL will spend £1.2 million on school bike parking (that's $2.5 million and rising). Many of the new bike parking facilities are indoors or otherwise protected from weather and often include lockers. Jenny Jones, Mayor Ken Livingstone's Green Transport Advisor, said:

 

On Wednesday, Jeffrey Zupan, Regional Plan Association's transportation analyst, issued a comprehensive rebuttal of the main traffic reducing measures proposed in Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free's anti-congestion pricing report, “Alternative Approaches to Traffic Congestion Mitigation in the Manhattan Central Business District."

There seems to be some confusion by both friends and foes of congestion pricing as to what it actually is. "Congestion pricing" is a term of art that refers to congestion tolls, road pricing or road tolling or other road user fees. It is a concept distinct from charging for parking. The foremost expert on charging more for on-street parking, UCLA professor Donald Shoup, explains as much in the "Congestion Pricing" section of his book The Cost of Free Parking. But if Shoup is not enough, the USDOT's Federal Highway Administration has provided a handy web site containing its definition of congestion pricing. Since the USDOT has promised NYC $354.5 million if it adopts a congestion pricing scheme covering the Central Business District of Manhattan, the agency's definition of congestion pricing matters.

Last week, the parking garage industry-funded group Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free issued its latest salvo against congestion pricing. The report begins: