Congestion Pricing

Council Member Laurie Cumbo -- whose district encompasses in Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, and parts of Crown Heights -- faces a spirited and well-funded primary challenge from Ede Fox, a former council staffer who also ran for the seat four years ago.

There is no right to drive for free within New York City limits. What we do have is a transit system where the poorest have to pay more per trip than the richest, and where people forgo reasonable transit options and the slight inconvenience of carpooling to clog streets with their polluting single-occupancy vehicles.

People who can afford a $10 or $20 Uber ride are slowing down people who can afford a $2.75 bus fare. Move NY will change that.

The mayor says he's never seen a version of congestion pricing that's fair to the outer boroughs, but the Move NY toll reform plan is specifically designed to distribute costs fairly between different parts of the city.

One of New York City’s preeminent jurists, Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr., affirmed today that the city possesses full legal authority to toll its own roads and bridges and thus does not require state approval to implement congestion pricing.

Calling congestion "self-correcting" is a convenient way to steer the subject away from congestion pricing. The argument is that drivers can bail when congestion "gets bad enough." Problem solved -- without collective (governmental) action requiring political leadership. Let's unpack that.

In light of a new legal analysis that concluded NYC can toll its own streets without waiting for Albany, the Move New York campaign has proposed a "home rule" version of its road pricing plan that would charge $2.75 to drive across the four East River bridges and a 60th Street cordon and tax for-hire vehicle and taxi trips in the densest parts of Manhattan. But despite a supportive City Council, the de Blasio administration isn't adding road pricing to its agenda.

According to 2015 U.S. Census data, most households citywide don't own a car, car-owning households tend to be more affluent than car-free ones, and the vast majority of New Yorkers don't drive to work.

Responding to a frustrated Staten Island motorist on WNYC, Mayor de Blasio announced that the city will release a "bigger plan to address congestion" in the "coming weeks."