Presented by:

Transportation for New Yorkers

How to Expand NYC’s System to Accommodate One Million New Residents and How to Pay for It

PlaNYC 2030: Accommodating Growth, Protecting Quality of Life

• Goals of PlaNYC:– Accommodate 1 million more people moving to NYC by

2030– Improve public health: achieve cleanest air of any large U.S.

city– Bring transit system to state of good repair– Reduce carbon emissions by 30%– Everyone within 10 minute walk of a park– Clean up all contaminated land in NYC

What are our current transportation problems that will get worse as our population grows?

• By 2030 nearly all of our transit lines will be at or near max capacity

• 30% of New Yorkers are over a ½ mile away from a subway station, bus speeds have slowed 4% from 2000-2006, many neighborhoods still lack express bus options

• Rush hour projected to last 12 hours a day by 2030 • Second worst air quality in United States• Traffic pollution contributing to global warming • Congestion costs $13 billion annually to NYC’s economy • High shipping costs, unreliability• 37,000 jobs yearly, lost productivity• Traffic chips away at our quality of life

Transit lines at or nearing capacity

How can we address these problems?

• Improve Mass Transit, reduce use of private vehicles:– Station rehabs, bringing the subways to good repair– 10 new bus rapid transit routes and exclusive bus lanes– Traffic improvements in congested corridors– East River bridge bus lanes– Ferry service– Second Avenue Subway, connecting LIRR-GCT– Better intra-city commuter rail service

What are the obstacles to improving transit in NYC?

• $30.9 billion funding gap

How can we fill the transit funding gap and improve our transportation system?

• Dedicated funding from New York City, New York State– $220 million, currently in NYC’s capital budget for transit

improvements – Mayor Bloomberg will commit $220 million per year starting

in 2008, rising to $275 million per year in 2012 if the State will provide matching funds

– This is still not enough

• A congestion charge is the best way to fill the gap

What is congestion pricing and how will it affect New Yorkers?

1. How would congestion pricing work?2. Who will pay the congestion charge?3. How many “outerborough” drivers would have to pay?4. Is congestion pricing fair to the “outerboroughs”?5. What is the impact on working and middle class New Yorkers?6. What are the other benefits of congestion pricing to the

“outerboroughs”? Other Frequently Asked Questions: 7. How effective is congestion pricing at taming traffic?8. Will there be time-shifting to avoid the fee?9. What if drivers park just outside the charging zone?10. How can transit system accommodate all these new users?

1. How would congestion pricing work?

• In effect 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. weekdays.• Manhattan up to 86th Street.• Daily congestion charge: (charged once per day)

– $8 charge for cars entering congestion zone– $4 for cars traveling within zone– $21 for trucks (defined by weight or # of axles)

– Drivers credited for tolls paid up to $8.

• Would raise nearly $400 million a year to be used only to improve transit and roads.

• Taxis, livery cars, emergency vehicles, handicapped cars are exempt.

2. Who will pay the congestion charge?

Only 4.6% of employed New Yorkers commute by auto to the CBD and would be affected by the congestion fee

All other NYC

employed residents

95.4%

Auto commuters

to CBD4.6%

3. How many “outerborough” drivers would have to pay?

Most auto commuters already pay MTA tolls (and would not pay a congestion fee) and/or have a viable transit alternative.

• Only 0.9% of employed Queens and Brooklyn residents drive to the CBD, would pay the congestion fee, and live beyond walking distance of the subway.

Live beyond subway

access and use free bridge0.9%

Pay MTA toll and/or have

subway access3.7%

All other employed

Qns & Bklyn residents

95.4%

4. Is congestion pricing fair to the “outerboroughs”?

Fewer than one-half of auto commuters who would pay the congestion fee live in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens or Staten Island

Pay congestion

fee Percent

Bronx, Bklyn, Qns, S.I. 81,017 39%

Manhattan 23,945 12%

Suburbs 102,046 49%

Total 207,008 100%

0 1.6 3.2

Miles

69%

70%

75%

71%

Two-thirds of commuters from distant city neighborhoods use non-auto modes and benefit from transit improvements funded by the fee.

Percent of workers using mass transit from each area to commute to the Manhattan Central Business District.

5. What is the impact on working and middle class New Yorkers?

Working and middle-income commuters living in outlying areas of Queens and Brooklyn are twice as likely to take the bus and subway than drive to work in Manhattan.

Earnings of CBD

commuters from Brooklyn

and Queens who live in

areas requiring bus-

to-subway transfers

6. What are the other benefits of congestion pricing to the “outerboroughs”?

• Traffic congestion reductions:– 72% of time savings from reductions in traffic delays in NYC from

congestion pricing occurs outside the congestion pricing zone

• Better air quality– Since air pollution is mobile, reducing the number of vehicles on the

road and the air pollution they create will have citywide benefits

• Fewer traffic crashes– London’s experience shows that between 40 and 70 additional

crashes have been ‘prevented’ per year in comparison with the background trend, broadly in line with TfL's prior expectation for the scheme.

7. How effective is congestion pricing in taming traffic?

• London (first 3 years):– 16% traffic reduction– 30% less traffic delay

• Stockholm:– 20-25% traffic reduction

7. How effective is congestion pricing in taming traffic?

• Motor vehicle travel within NYC charging zone (projected)– 6% reduction in traffic mileage in the zone– 7% increase in vehicle speeds– 24% reduction in time lost in traffic delay for trips within the

zone• Motor vehicle travel into charging zone

– 11% fewer vehicle trips– Depending on the crossing, 20% to 40% reduction in time

lost in traffic delay for trips entering the congestion zone

8. Will there be time-shifting to avoid the fee?

• Most commuters would have to arrive at work shortly after 6 a.m. to avoid the fee in the morning.

• Commuters would also have to stay past 6 p.m. to avoid the fee going home.

• London did not experience time-shifting

9. What if drivers park just outside the charging zone?

• Not anticipated due to high land costs, scarce parking already in these neighborhoods

• PlaNYC:– The City will “work with local communities if it

seems that they would be impacted by drivers seeking to avoid the congestion pricing charge.”

– “Possible solutions include parking permits for residential neighborhoods …”

10. How can transit system accommodate all these new users?

• Only 2% increase in ridership is expected, spread over many transit lines

Conclusion

• PlaNYC has citywide benefits for reducing congestion, improving public transportation and cleaning the air

• This is the only workable way to accommodate population and job growth

• The congestion charge is estimated to raise net revenues of $380 million in the first year, rising to $900 million per year by 2030,

• The congestion charge, combined with City and State funding is the best way to fund $31 billion in transportation projects that are at the heart of the plan.