Good morning. My name is Tiffany-Ann Taylor and I’m the Vice President for Transportation for the Regional Plan Association, a nearly 100 year old civic organization working toward better mobility, economic opportunity, affordable housing, and a more resilient New York City metropolitan region.
For decades, we have strongly supported congestion pricing because we think it is a centerpiece of a set of policies that will lead to a greener, more equitable region.
Congestion pricing will reduce traffic congestion. Our estimates show this program will decrease delay of traffic by about 15% during busy periods. Traffic levels are already surpassing pre COVID levels so managing traffic is key to our economic recovery.
Congestion pricing will raise vital revenue for public transit. The program will raise $15B in revenue and 100% of this net revenue will go into paying for improvements to our public transportation system.
Congestion pricing will make the transportation system more equitable. The majority of households in NYC do not own cars and on average, households with cars have an income that is nearly double those without.
We produced a thorough report in 2019 that analyzed a number of toll scenarios and laid out recommendations for implementation. It is available for all to read on our website at rpa.org.
Key recommendations from the report are as follows:
Implement transit and bicycle improvements prior to starting congestion pricing.
Adopt specific objectives and metrics to meet traffic, environmental, and health goals and ensure that benefits are equitably shared.
Create a consistent toll rate for all similar trips by providing toll credits to drivers at MTA river crossings to reduce “shopping” for the cheapest tolls. We have found that 25% of the AM peak of traffic on the BQE is avoiding tolls on the Hugh Carey Tunnel, to take advantage of the free East River bridges.
Introduce two-way tolling in the congestion zone.
Vary the congestion fee by the level of congestion at different times of day, and by size of vehicle.
The MTA should incorporate these recommendations and also analyze localized traffic impacts in neighborhoods like Washington Heights, Highbridge, Mott Haven, Inwood, along with Jersey City, Hoboken, Union City and Fort Lee in New Jersey.
