Queensboro Bridge (Fran Fran via Flickr)
Jan. 31, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez
Only 3 percent of commuters in Long Island City, Sunnyside, and other neighborhoods within Assembly District 37 would face a congestion charge for entering Manhattan as proposed by Governor Cuomo, according to a new report.
The report, released Tuesday by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a non-profit that vouches for reducing car dependency, analyzed the 140 State Assembly and Senate districts to see how many commuters would be affected by a congestion charge for crossing into Manhattan’s central business district (CBD), or anywhere below 60th Street, as outlined by Governor Cuomo’s Fix NYC panel.
Under the Fix NYC panel’s plan, passenger cars would be charged $11.52 for entering Manhattan within the CBD on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Commercial trucks would see a charge of $25.34 for the same time frame.
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
The report shows that 3.1 percent of commuters in Assembly District 37 would pay the congestion charge. These single-digit percentage of commuters in the district, according to the non-profit’s report, exclusively drive into Manhattan below 60th Street, and would therefore be affected by congestion charges.
The rest of the district’s population would not pay the charge, as a large percentage of commuters heavily rely on public transportation to get to the CBD, or drive north of 60th Street and to other places without charges.
Assembly District 37, represented by Assembly woman Catherine Nolan.
The report shows that 64.8 percent of Assembly District 37 commuters use public transportation to get into Manhattan, regardless if they’re entering the central business district. And just over 20 percent of commuters also drive to get into Manhattan, but they do not enter the CBD.
Overall, over half of commuters from the district don’t head into the CBD, according to the report. For these non-CBD commuters, roughly 40 percent take the subway, while a sizable 27 percent drive alone.
For the 37.8 percent of commuters that do go into the CBD, an overwhelming 86 percent use the subway, and just 6 percent of these CBD commuters drive alone to the area.
The numbers for Assembly District 37 are consistent with one of the group’s overall findings—that in all districts surveyed, only single-digit percentages of residents commute into the potential tolled zone of Manhattan.
The Tri-State Transportation Campaign also found that drivers commuting into the CBD tend to have higher incomes than those who take public transportation, an analysis that takes a jab at a widely-heard criticism on congestion pricing that says middle-class, outer borough residents will be most hurt by the measure.
In Assembly District 37, the median income of workers who commute by driving alone is $45,514. For workers using public transportation, the median income is $36,191, the report shows.
The transit advocacy group used data from the US Census 2011-2015 five year American Community Survey for the report.
“While congestion pricing by itself won’t solve every transportation challenge our city faces, it is an integral part of a larger strategy to make urban transportation more efficient, sustainable and equitable,” The Tri-State Transportation Campaign said.
Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, who represents over 124,000 constituents in Assembly District 37, did not respond to a request for comment on the report’s findings by press time.
The proposal released by the Fix NYC panel on Jan. 19 has been the subject of discussion between Governor Cuomo and lawmakers across the state since, with deliberations expected to take months.
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21 Comments
I just met a couple from Singapore. In Singapore, car ownership is very expensive and very difficult due to the lack of space and overpopulation. You have to bid just for the right to have a car which can cost up to $40,000. Then you only get that right for 10 years. Buying a car is also extremely expensive thanks to duties and taxes. This money is then spent on public transportation for the masses. When I was in Florence, we had to park our rental car outside of the city center. Why? Because most cars are not allowed in the city center. It is fantastic! NYC is heading this way whether you like it or not. I hope Park Avenue can actually be a park someday. I hope some bridges can become pedestrian only with grass and trees and birds and bees, like the Highline. I have a dream and it does not include cars.
It’s a PIPE DREAM unfortunately. NYC is the financial center of NYC and the country. It will always have traffic. Too many cabs, they should be limited.
More nonsense from you. Comparing Florence to NY? That shows just how little you understand of the world. And just because people in Singapore have to live a less than ideal lifestyle, it doesn’t mean NY’ers should have to endure the same. Car ownership in the outer boroughs is ingrained in the fabric of NYC. They should do away with the transplants (like you) and tourists that are overpopulating the city before they eliminate the right to have a car.
Many people don’t want extra fees for anything in NYC as we are highly taxed and charged a lot for lousy transit from neglect by the State and City. The state (Gov. Corruption Cuomo) runs the MTA and should be mainly responsible for funding it with some city money also. Neglect by the City/state has led to congestion pricing ideas. Why not limit cabs instead of adding Uber/Lyft. The number of existing cabs should have been limited. Cabs have been proven to cause a lot of traffic congestion in Manhattan. Do you trust the the MTA to do the right thing with this money they will get, or waste it on cart before the horse projects instead of fixing what they already need to fix? I don’t trust them. Why do you want to add more people to the Subways & Buses when they can’t handle what they already have? Don’t proponents of Congestion Pricing realize the Bridges will be next to toll when the MTA or City/State needs more CASH for their wasteful ideas?
There must be a reason why Uber or Lyft (etc.), get a pass by this non-objective “finding,” are fine and dandy while they blanket the streets with cars, vans and fumes, imperiling pedestrians and those who must enter Manhattan (older commuters especially are unsuited for Combat Subway–the game of survival against crowds and stairs). Give me a break. Uber paid for the study, or suicidal bicyclists, who continue their lemmings-like dashes across traffic lanes, wrong-waying or dodging trucks, (who can’t brake quickly enough to react to daredevil feints by the two-wheelers).
Enough of the payoffs. Regular yellow or green cabdrivers have a career, aren’t doing the dangerous reading of texts of maps while driving, have clear laws to protect passengers.
And congestion is caused by UBER and LYFT. Sheesh.
The number of yellow (and green) cabs is just fine, and it is controlled by the longstanding medallion system. The problem is UBER, Lyft and the others. They are flooding the streets with livery cars, driven by people that are frankly a menace to society and have not been thoroughly vetted.
No more taxes. No more taxes. We are already the most taxed people in our ENTIRE nation. Get your greedy hands out of our pockets! Can any politician ever think about a problem without coming to a TAX solution? Before any new tax or toll or fee is added, the State budget MUST BE REDUCED BY AN EQUIVALENT AMOUNT! Get your greedy hands out of the taxpayers’ pockets!
GOV. CUOMO LOOTED THE 8 BILLION $ FUND FOR MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR OF THE MTA TO BUILD 2ND AVE SUBWAY AND LIGHT UP BRIDGES! NOW HE WANTS TO TAX US TO REPLACE THAT MONEY?!!! IT’S NOT ABOUT CONGESTION! IT’S ABOUT TAXATION!!! VOTE NO!!!
I would argue that 100% of people who commute to Manhattan will be impacted by this proposal – 97% of us who take the trains and buses will be impacted positively, while the 3% who drive to Manhattan will pay more.
100% of the millionaire class who have/rent/Uber cars living below 60th Street, or above it for that matter, don’t give a hoot for the majority of New Yorkers. Period. Queens residents, Brooklyn residents, Bronx and Staten Island residents who must use cars, and small business will suffer. Is it a plot by New Jersey to take our jobs?
The rich are fine. The rest of us have to live on air, and pay through the nose to cross the bridge. This “survey” is bogus.
By the way, could vehicle license plates be correlated to the age of the registered driver? Give elders the same discount as other transit, and weekends off for all suffering under the UBER/LYFT yoke. (Or New Jersey’s revenge joke.)
It would definitely help reduce all the traffic on Queens Plaza because now this wouldn’t be the only free access to Manhattan. No one should be driving to work to Manhattan anyway and I would think small business would rather pay a fee than have their workers stuck in traffic for the most part of the day.
Who are you to dictate who should and shouldn’t drive into Manhattan?
I am your father. Haha
The only one dictating who drives to Manhattan is reality. This city is a 24 hr neighborhood. It is not a highway. The entire country knows car ownership is very low here and that commuting by car is difficult and expensive which is precisely why we have great public transportation which I have used every single day for 25 years. No matter how far away the nearest subway stop is. I take offense to car people who practically destroy this city for many of us. You come in your cars belching black smoke, you are often angry and honking, you are often a danger to pedestrians, you belch black stinky smoke. I can’t think of one single positive to the car culture in NYC except to your selfish self.
The Queensboro Bridge is one of 4 bridges with no tolls. You didn’t include the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges. I’ve read that tolls would not be charged if cars went right onto the FDR drive from the Brooklyn bridge or went uptown from the Queensboro Bridge. Trucks cannot use the FDR, so their drivers will skip the 3 lower river bridges and head to the Queensboro if they have uptown Manhattan deliveries. Imagine the congestion at Queens Plaza, then. Imagine the pollution. Imagine the traffic on the BQE or local roads getting to the Queensboro. But, who cares about the outer boroughs? It’s all about Manhattan.
Small business is already hurting in NYC, this would send more out of business. If you read another commenter here many will use the QBoro Bridge. I also believe when the city/state needs more money from a very wasteful MTA the bridges will be tolled next. Another commenter thinks we have GREAT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION here in NYC. Don’t you watch or read the news?The MTA is out of order all the time. It is terrible.
Anyone aware if exiting off the Queensboro Bridge get considered as entering the CBD in this study?
Why would this matter? As I read it, if you drive below 60th you’d pay above you’d wouldn’t.
The congestion pricing starts at 60th, so if you exit the bridge straight on to 60th you would pay, but if you took the ramp to 63rd you would not.
You can either exit into 59th street or 60th street. If you were to choose the former, you’d be in the CBD.
Hey Cuomo! Buzz off!