Smooth traffic entering the toll zone at Fifth Avenue and 60th Street in Manhattan. Photo: Sarah Goodyear
At last, New York City started its congestion pricing program on January 5.
We knew that the local mainstream press would be out in force interviewing drivers and elevating the voices of those who were against the toll. We knew that because the New York press corps has a long history of putting the people who commute by car in New York above those who don’t.
So we went out on congestion pricing’s first weekday morning and talked to some people who weren’t driving. Some of the people we talked with were random New Yorkers, but mostly we heard from advocates who knew we would be there and showed up in the freezing cold to talk about why they were so excited about the launch of this historic program.
Thank you to all the people who spared some of their time on a cold morning to talk to us, especially Samir Lavingia, Charlie Todd, Chris Sanders, Alex Duncan, Rich Miller, Noel Hidalgo, Seth Solomonow, Kirby Kersels, Paul Krikler and Steve from Peekskill.
This episode was edited by Ali Lemer.
*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to bonus content, ad-free versions of regular episodes, free stickers, merch discounts, early access to live shows, and more. ***
LINKS:
- The MTA’s FAQ page answers all your questions about congestion pricing.
- Check out this congestion pricing traffic tracker for collected data showing the program’s impact.
TheWarOnCars.org