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Traffic Congestion: Sponsored by Your Local Media
Going through my morning headline round-up I clicked on ABC Channel 7's story, Should There be Tolls in Manhattan? While my eye was being drawn to the giant, red "Lukoil: We Love Cars" ad banner (What genius came up with, "Traffic: Sponsored by Lukoil?"), an animated little Gen Y hipster wearing a Toyota.com t-shirt jumped out in front of the text urging me to click him to hear more about Toyota's gargantuan new FJ Cruiser. The automobile and oil industry ad assault was so aggressive, I never even got around to reading the news story about how New York City is losing billions of dollars every year due to overwhelming gridlock. Is anyone still wondering why traffic reduction is a tough sell?
December 5, 2006
Today’s Congestion Headlines
Study Discovers $13+ Billion in Annual Costs Due to Traffic Congestion (PFNYC)Region Loses as Many as 52,000 Jobs Every Year Mayor Says Fee on Peak Traffic Is Not Likely (NYT) Fees To Ease Midtown Traffic Jams May Get a New Look From City Hall (Sun) Drivers get brake on congest tax (News) Choked Streets Cost City … Continued
December 5, 2006
Growth or Gridlock?
This morning, the Partnership for New York City publicly released its long-awaited study, Growth or Gridlock: The Economic Case for Traffic Relief and Transit Improvements for a Greater New York. London's congestion charging initiative was kick-started, in large part, by a similar report published by London First, that city's version of the Partnership. From today's report:
December 4, 2006
Congestion Charging in New York City: The Political Bloodbath
Though many New Yorkers are learning about congestion charging for the first time this week, the transportation policy community has been working to sell this idea to a resistant public for more than three decades. What happens when Nobel Prize winning theory meets bare-fisted New York City politics? A heavily condensed version of this story ran in this week's New York Magazine:
December 4, 2006
A Brief History of New York City Congestion Charging
Car-Free lunchtime on Madison Avenue, April 19, 1971. New York City policy-makers haven't seriously considered traffic reduction since the Lindsay Administration. (Image courtesy of Jeff Zupan)
December 4, 2006
It’s Traffic Congestion Week in New York City
The Partnership for New York City releases its long-awaited congestion charging study today. Stay tuned.
December 4, 2006
45% of New Yorkers Receptive to a Congestion Charge
The congestion charging policy roll-out is officially on the move. Today the Tri-State Transportation Campaign released the findings of a detailed telephone survey conducted last spring in an effort to learn more about how New Yorkers feel about traffic congestion and the idea of making motorists pay more to drive in to the most gridlocked parts of the city. Download TSTC's report here (PDF). See an excerpt below.
November 27, 2006
The Traffic is the Mitigation
mitigate, verb[Latin stem of mitigare, from mitis, mild, gentle]1. Make milder in manner or attitude, make less hostile, mollify.2. Give relief from pain. Lessen the suffering caused by an evil or difficulty.3. Make less oppressive. Make more humane, more bearable.
November 20, 2006
Congestion Pricing: The Public Conversation Begins
The New York Sun has the first of what will be a littany of congestion pricing stories coming out in the next few months. Finally, with city and state elections out of the way, New York City is about to embark on a substantive discussion of its transportation, traffic congestion and long-term sustainability issues. Some excerpts below:
November 20, 2006
Gov. Spitzer Transition Team Transpo Committee Named
It includes some leading members of the congestion charging brainstrust and some big MTA reformers. Via Chuck Bennett at AMNY:
November 20, 2006