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Congestion Pricing is Pro-Driving Policy, Manville Says

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Associate Professor of Urban Planning Michael Manville spoke to Curbed about New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s efforts to implement congestion pricing. By charging drivers to access Manhattan’s central business district, the congestion pricing system would feed $1 billion in annual revenue to the MTA, which could use the funds for improvements such as increasing bus and bike lanes and widening sidewalks. According to Manville, “Congestion is stopping us from making it a better kind of city for the vast majority of New Yorkers who almost never drive.” He also stressed the importance of creating a universal basic income system for eligible households in the region to ensure that the congestion pricing system is equitable. And he argued that “congestion pricing is actually great for drivers,” noting that the data collected can be used to improve the planning and pricing of parking. “People always want to overlook how much better [congestion pricing] can make driving,” he concluded.

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Wachs on New York’s Congestion Pricing Experiment

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Martin Wachs, professor emeritus of urban planning, commented on the prospect of congestion pricing in Los Angeles on KPCC’s Airtalk. To reduce traffic, New York passed a proposal to implement congestion pricing in the form of tolls on vehicles entering Manhattan, prompting speculation about the prospect of congestion pricing in other big cities like Los Angeles. In Stockholm, Wachs explained, citizens voted to implement congestion pricing after a seven-month trial period because “they valued the reduction of congestion more highly than they were worried about the cost of entering the congested area.” Wachs predicts that “the Manhattan experiment will reveal how Americans feel about congestion pricing.” While some critics argue that congestion pricing is regressive taxation, Wachs responded that “congestion itself is regressive. Congestion pricing provides an alternative, but it doesn’t require the low-income person to pay the fee if there is an alternative,” such as public transit.

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