Good morning.
If you’ve been on X-The-Everything-App in the last few days, you’ve probably seen some of the most bad-faith characters on this side of the Hudson jabbering on about a report from the city’s Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene on congestion pricing and air quality.
“They’re stealing our money! It’s a scam! Us poor drivers need a refund!!!1!1!!1”
But, as transportation economist Charles Komanoff points out in his latest for Streetsblog, congestion pricing was never about air quality: It was about improving travel (and indirectly financing improved transit). Sure, a secondary benefit was to shrink motor vehicles’ physical and psychological imprint on the urban landscape, ushering in wide-ranging gains in New Yorkers’ quality of life extending far beyond cleaner air.
But those complaining about the fairly anodyne results of the city’s study never cared about the environmental impacts of congestion pricing to begin with. It’s just another feeble attempt to force the city to roll out the red carpet for the drivers clogging our streets.
Care about the environment? May we suggest taking the bus, subway, or LIRR.
You can read Komanoff’s full column at the link below — and don’t forget to check out the rest of what Streetsblog has to offer while you’re there.
Until tomorrow,
Emily
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