Are you a regular, hard working American who has ambitions of running a successful transportation business and are willing to pour liters of blood, sweat, and tears into your company in order to fill up a swimming pool with gold coins and dive in it like Scrooge McDuck? Man, has the government got the perfect reward for all of your efforts to help provide a much needed service to the residents of Manhattan. Fees, fees, and more fees.
Nobody loves to punish success more than the government, regardless of whether it be local, state, or federal level.
According to a report from The American Tribune, drivers in the Big Apple — that’s New York City for those who have been locked in cryo-sleep for the last three or four hundred years — will be required to pay a flat fee in order to enter some of the busier parts of Manhattan, the transit authority announced on April 26. The new $15 congestion fee goes into full effect on June 30.
Under the new plan, drivers who enter Manhattan south of 60th Street, so in the more popular areas of the island, will have to pay a $15 fee if they enter the area during daytime hours. While the toll will be increased in the case of larger vehicles than typical commuter cars, and will be lower for motorcycles and those who enter the zone during nighttime, the $15 fee will reportedly apply to most drivers.
As to the other vehicles and situations, during peak hours, large trucks will pay $36, small trucks will pay $24, and motorcycles $7.50. Further, there is a carve-out for ride-share vehicles and taxis, which will respectively pay $2.50 and $1.25. In non-peak hours, which would mean between 9 pm and 5 am on weekdays or 9 pm and 9 am on weekends, fees will decrease by 75%.
The program is, across those fee schedules for different vehicle types and hours, expected to raise about $1 billion a year. The revenue raised by it will be used to help pay for public transportation programs, which already serve about 4 million riders daily.
The MTA in New York provided an explanation of the program, saying, “Congestion Pricing will improve quality of life by reducing vehicular traffic, improving air quality, and making New York a safer and more livable place. For drivers, Congestion Pricing will reduce traffic and make it easier to get to, from, and around the Congestion Relief Zone. Congestion Pricing means fewer cars on the road, so those who still need to drive will have faster trips and spend less time in traffic.”
“For public transit riders, fewer vehicles on the road means faster bus and paratransit trips. Plus, the billions of dollars in funding generated by Congestion Pricing will bring critical improvements to subways, buses, and commuter railroads, ensuring riders have faster and more reliable commutes. Even more, this funding will support 23,000 jobs throughout New York State. For pedestrians or cyclists, streets with fewer vehicles are safer streets. Plus, fewer vehicles will make for a quieter, cleaner, and more livable city,” the explanation continued.
The brilliant minds behind this new fee then went on to channel their inner Mr. Mackey — a “South Park” character — saying, “Gridlock is bad, mmmkay?” They noted that it’s bad for the economy, the environment, and the quality of life for most who live, work, and visit the city.
“Employees on the clock waste time sitting in traffic. Workers get to their shift late because the bus is delayed. Ambulances are stuck behind cars when every second matters. New Yorkers lose 117 hours on average sitting in traffic every year, costing them nearly $2,000 in lost productivity and wasted time. Plus, more traffic means more air pollution and associated health impacts,” they continued.
The big question is whether or not this program will be successful in actually reducing traffic and improving the quality of life in the area or if it will just be another fee and things will still be more clogged than John Wayne’s colon and the city will just collect a crap ton of additional revenue.