As Daniel reported in his post about Friday's DMI meeting on congestion pricing, New Yorkers are, for all intents and purposes, already paying a congestion tax: the cost of congestion itself. He also reported on the consensus opinion that any congestion pricing plan would only feasible -- and fair -- if it were coupled with a serious investment in expanding access to and the efficiency of public transporation:
Everyone on the panel suggested that people who drive were making a rational choice based on the options available to them and that a successful plan would have to take their needs into account.
While I share this view, it's worth noting that some data indicate that only a small portion of those who drive into Manhattan's central business districts do so because they lack access to adequate public transport.
The Gothamist linked last week to a survey by the Partnership for New York City that found that, of the five percent of New Yorkers who drive to work in the CBDs, "just 17 percent ... take their cars into Manhattan’s CBDs because of inaccessible or inconvenient mass transit options." Moreover, only 10 percent of New York's drivers, according to the poll, said that taking mass transit would make their commutes any slower than driving. The PFNYC study implied that it was a sort of inertia, more than anything else, keeping New York City's drivers from abandoning their cars -- and that only congestion pricing could change this:
“Our survey of New Yorkers who drive in Manhattan found that congestion pricing is the only mechanism that will entice a large portion of drivers to switch to public transit,†said Partnership for New York City President and CEO Kathryn Wylde. “A significant percentage of surveyed drivers are heavily resistant to getting out of their cars, but in response to pricing there are more than enough who would to reduce congestion by a significant factor.†[...]
A key conclusion of the survey is that, while the majority of drivers in New York City believe that traffic congestion is a serious problem (68%), few would change their habits absent congestion charges.
“While New York City drivers are one of the primary, if not the top cause of congestion, most drivers claim to have seen the enemy and it is someone else,†Wylde adds in reference to the survey’s findings that New York drivers blame others for congestion. Surveyed drivers cite truck and delivery vehicles (18%), taxis and livery cars (17%), people driving from the suburbs (12%) and double parking (12%) as the top four causes of congestion.
This is only one study, and it certainly doesn't lead to the conclusion that New York should not invest in making mass transit more accessible, affordable, and efficient, especially for children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and those in outer areas of the city. But it does suggest that congestion pricing might be effective in reducing traffic by a significant degree -- simply by providing a different incentive for those who drive mainly out of habit.
