The Burnside Blog
Congestion Pricing Strikes Out In NYC
New York is a paradox. America’s largest and greatest city is on one hand a traffic-clogged mess, and on the other hand, it’s the most pedestrian-friendly city in the country. In NYC, you can walk everywhere. For those who live in the Big Apple, it’s not the norm to own a car, but for those who live outside of the city and commute to Manhattan during the week, rush hour is hell. Still, even though the New York area is serviced by more commuter trains than any city in North America, many workers still drive into the city every day.
Like most places in America, people like their cars, and until yesterday when New York’s state assembly voted down a proposal by NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg that would have charged drivers a fee for liking their cars, it looked like New York was poised to change its commuting patterns. Passed by New York’s City Council, the Bloomberg traffic congestion plan would have charged drivers eight bucks a day for driving into central Manhattan during the work week. The plan failed, but before it did, Jeff Byles made some thoughtful alternatives to punitive pricing in the Sunday Times, including adding bike boulevards and closing or reducing busy streets to car traffic. The measures sounded straight out of the Portland playbook.
Regardless of how the urban landscape changes or how much people are charged for parking, fuel or access to city centers, driving habits in NYC and elsewhere don’t appear to be changing much. Take Portland. While our transit ridership is somewhat high (though Tri-met’s own figures are mysteriously far higher than the actual census data) and bicycle commuting in Portland is by far the highest in the country, Portland is still in many ways a car city. In PDX, lots of people support transit with their dollars, and never use it.
In PDX or New York: What is it going to take to get people out of their cars?
By Rachel DeSchepper on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 at 03:58PM PDT
Personally, I don’t know why anyone would want to drive in New York. When I’m there, I avoid cars like the plague. There’s enough public transit that having a car seems ridiculous. Downtown Chicago is bad enough for me.
When I moved to Portland, I was glad to get rid of my car, but it’s very difficult in some aspect. Target? Can’t do it. Want to visit a friend in lower SE? Not happening unless I take three buses and like Cinderella, am out before midnight before the buses and MAX stop running. Want to grab a bunch of product for a photo shoot for the magazine? Forget it—gotta get a Zipcar.
During the week, not having a car is fine, and is definitely preferable to the parking rates downtown and driving around the construction. Come weekends, I feel like the biggest mooch with my friends schlepping me around everywhere. Our public transit is better than most, but it’s also got a long way to go.
That said, I’m not buying a car anytime soon.
By Skinny City Girl on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 at 04:56PM PDT
You have to save people money without sacrificing convenience or perceived safety. That magic recipe works if you live in downtown Portland and don’t have kids or pets.
Convenience is relative, too. People in NYC are on a level playing field, whether they own a car or not.
But in Portland, unless you live downtown with no kids, you’re at a real disadvantage without a car (job prospects, social opportunities etc).
By Mike Thelin on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 at 05:27PM PDT
Your words ring true SCG. When I lived in North PDX. I drove everywhere. And at this point in time, you’d need to be wealthy to raise your children downtown. Two bedroom condos start at a half million. That should change a bit once more workforce housing (a la Cyan) is in place. Hopefully buyers will respond.
By Skinny City Girl on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 at 10:52AM PDT
Zipcar!!!