Scott Gibbons’ Post

And more on the congestion pricing debacle.

AIA New York is deeply concerned with Governor Hochul’s plan to indefinitely suspend the implementation of New York City’s #CongestionPricing. Hochul announced the postponement today, June 5, 2024, just weeks before the plan was set to take effect, after rumblings of uncertainty began circulating in the press. As architects and design professionals, we are all aware of the successful examples implemented by our peer cities such as London, Stockholm, and Singapore, and we should not be left behind. This is why AIANY has led decades of advocacy efforts to make congestion pricing a reality. The program will alleviate traffic, reduce pollution, save lives, and create a multi-billion-dollar investment to modernize and upgrade the city’s aging public transit system which will be critical to New York’s future to continue operating as a global and dynamic city. We call on our members to reach out to your state legislators and to Governor Hochul immediately. Contact your elected officials with a form provided by the New York League of Conservation Voters: https://bit.ly/3x6xqXu Call Governor Hochul at 212-681-4580.

This summer's going to be a hot one. Transportation is the largest source of GHG emissions and at this point, we just don't have another 50 years to decide whether congestion pricing is worth implementing. We can follow in the footsteps of cities like London and Singapore who have successfully implemented congestion charges, or we can bear the costs (gridlock, sea level rise, increased air pollution, greater road fatalities, the list goes on...).

ICYMI: NY Governor Puts the Brakes on Congestion Pricing. Read our summary on the #ARTBATIAC blog- https://lnkd.in/eAm-dY-X #transportationfunding

Remember when Ike warned of the military/industrial complex? Well, we are decades into a highway/vehicle complex and few voters notice or care. The pols in DC are honest about one thing: we can call it ISTEA or TEA-21 or whatever. Our pols call it the “Highway Bill.” Why? For those of you who never took civics or political science (even though science is not involved), the U.S. has 435 folks who know that significant money will come to their district every year from the Highway Bill. That’s not the case for transit, rail, bikes …. Now, you get it. And, you might want to count the total money spent at fuel pumps in your district versus fare boxes. Bonus question: in how many US cities can the majority of the population live comfortably without a car?

We had a great conversation earlier this week about the politics and possibilities of congestion pricing with John Surico, Taylor Dolven, and Reggie Ramos. Thanks to GBH for hosting us! You can watch their edited recording here: https://lnkd.in/gc8_ygpe

In modern America, it takes political courage to promote the critical pieces of public policy required to help manage the negative impacts generated by our way of life.

#CongestionPricing in #NYC is on hold... back in Nov 2022 I joined a conversation at Henry George School of Social Science to discuss the economic ramifications of the plan and its impact on widening economic #inequality - this includes more than just income and accounts for the overall urban economy environment / accessibility and social inclusion. There are too many nuances about #NYC for the (otherwise probably fair) idea of congestion pricing to work in its current form... https://lnkd.in/eNUhpBF7

More on New York's last-minute and apparently fly-by-night scrapping of plans for a congestion charge, via the Governor's order. I've already joked to one New Yorker that this is just the latest example of "Kelcey's First Law of City Politics" at work (no big decision in city politics is ever made only once). But it also confirms the accelerating trend of North American governments appeasing driver hostility to place-based tolls and charges, regardless of the short term cost. How long before Canadian and US tolls become an extinct species? https://lnkd.in/gBpk9nXJ

Experience from Stockholm: decongestion pricing is unpopular before implemention, and BECOMES POPULAR AFTER IMPLEMENTATION: “Opposition dissipated once benefits became clear." “Opposition…has now vanished, even from those ideologically opposed to it before." “Congestion pricing plans can be accepted by the general public as long as cities are clear about how revenue will be used." Right before implementation, loud anti-tax opposition is predictable, focused on cost. Support comes when the vast public experiences the benefit. Delay will build opposition, not mollify it. Delay only prevents benefits from being realized. The only effective remedy to opposition is implementation. https://lnkd.in/ehxnAffq