The Battle Over NYC Congestion Pricing

Writing by Sam Denby and Tristan Purdy
Editing by Alexander Williard
Animation led by Max Moser
Sound by Graham Haerther
Thumbnail by Simon Buckmaster

[personnoun]

I've got a buddy who lives in NY- and trust me, owning a car in Manhattan is no joke. You can barely drive and use it, you must pay to park it everyday, and even if you dont use it, you must move it every week as to not get towed. It's a headache, it's a waste of space, and it actually burns a hole in your pocket.

[murdelabop]

There's an important statistic you missed: Over 90% of people who commute into lower Manhattan do so by mass transit. All the furor over congestion pricing only serves the 10% who don't.

Also, the congestion pricing toll would not be per trip, but per day, which would make it much easier to amortize into the cost of doing business for taxis, rideshares, delivery vehicles, and all the other vehicles which can be expected to make multiple trips into lower Manhattan every day.

[Terinije]

A solid Futurama joke was Fry saying that nobody ever drove in New York because there were too many cars.

[New-York-Attitude]

I live in the downtown part of the congestion zone. I ride a bike. Usually around 430PM and later The streets leading to the Williamsburg Bridge, the Manhattan bridge and the Brooklyn bridge are packed with vehicles that drive like crazed animals with no regard for people trying to walk across or cyclists. They run red lights and act like they’re the only ones that matter. But since congestion pricing started, traffic has blissfully lifted. I am so happy congestion pricing has finally happened.

[JL]

If you’re driving in the densest area of the densest city in the United States, then that’s a you problem tbh. You dont need a car in NYC, parking is already like 50 bucks an hour.

[Mrs.Anna]

Not me in Vermont thinking wow that’s more people than we have in the whole state.. only to have him say it.

[diogor]

"The only solution to car traffic is viable alternatives to driving!"

[AidanTheNub]

New Yorker here: The issue is that there is no plan to make public transit better. In London, they increased service when congestion pricing was implemented, thus giving a valid reason for the new toll. In NYC, there is no plan to increase service, instead there is a plan to INCREASE THE FARE to $3. Also, the mismanagement of MTA funds makes the public perception as another "poor people tax"

[curtisfleming]

There’s a prohibition on honking in Manhattan? Sure didn’t seem like it when I was there 😂

[oneday]

nj and nyc need to build more ways for trains to go between them. george washington bridge was designed to support trains. replace 2 lanes with train tracks. this will easily increase the number of people who can enter and exit nyc. have the tracks go far into nj

[DRIFTWORKSINC]

4:55 Mayor Ed Koch looked at banning cars completely, so we named a car bridge after him 😂😂😂

[talglikman]

Let's not forget that unlike London Manhattan is an Island where most entrances are already tolled.
This means that the revenue from congestion pricing will be partially mitigated by lesser toll revenue from traffic originating outside of Manhattan.

[jarupongch]

I think another factor is the public perception of the MTA itself. London can introduce the congestion pricing because people's perception of TfL is more positive. As compared to overall negative perception of MTA, NJ Transit, and LIRR.

[andreaspetersen]

You must have used every available stock footage of Newyork for this

[Croz]

Part of the problem is the potential time lag between improvements to public transportation and introduction of the fees. When London introduced congestion pricing, TfL was in pretty good shape so nearly everyone affected already had a good public transport alternative to driving (many might still drive, but park at the railway station instead of central London). NYC, it might be argued, is not in such a great position, there are still gaps in high quality coverage especially outside of NYC proper. So for a few years a significant number of people will probably have to choose between spending more money or enduring a significantly longer commute, and I can sympathise with that. Though I think there might still be challenges as improvements to complete coverage will likely need to include new subway lines especially to places like New Jersey, which is notoriously expensive in that region.

[cheeseburger]

And here we are in Ontario where our premier (essentially governor) has decided to remove bike lanes in Toronto and build more highways...

[WNdry]

Seeing those massive streets with - no bus/taxi/bike lanes, no tram lines, lots of on street parking and seeing comments on how the subway in NYC is terrible makes me think there is something more to it than just unwillingness to implement congestion pricing.

[Homer-OJ-Simpson]

2:13 is this a mistake? 140, 000 enter manhattan by car but so my somehow 1 million enter manhattan south of 60th by automobile? Doors that mean 860, 000+ enter by bus or did 140k mean to refer to a different transportation method?

[Dreamprism]

19:50 I don't continue to love paying for Nebula. I instead love having paid for the Lifetime subscription when it was first offered & instead never paying again.

[UninstallingWindows]

Cities with population density like that should have almost no cars in them. At such scale, public transit should be free and baked into city taxes. Trains, busses and trams operate much better when there is no fee that people have to pay and slow down. Instead, everybody pays X amount per month as a monthly fee( via tax ) and gets to use all the transport systems. There are similar things already in most countries( like monthly transit pass in Germany/Spain - where you pay 40$ a month and you get free access to subways, busses, trams and even trains ). When i was using that transit card - i never had a slightest thought about needing a car. It just didnt even cross my mind. 7 miles an hour to drive is insane. People who support that are not right in the head.