When Fixed Pricing Can’t Fix Pollution (or Congestion)
New York City’s recent decision to implement congestion pricing in Lower Manhattan was hailed as a victory by mobility advocates, environmentalists, and, generally, non-driving New Yorkers. This measure would add tolls to roads entering the cordon of Manhattan extending below 59th street. As we’ve previously discussed this measure would not provide the granular control of real-time or ‘dynamic’ road pricing. However, dynamic pricing is still some ways off (both politically and technologically), so what are ways NYC can improve the current congestion pricing plan?
Aside from the getting the fees right, so as not to hinder movement and business while still adequately reducing congestion, the most critical inclusion is for pricing to vary by time. A constant all day fee, or even a daytime and nighttime fee, is not granular enough to control for the regular traffic flows that Manhattan sees daily. A better system would use two hour blocks from 7am to 9pm for pricing during weekdays. Price changes should be smooth to avoid price shocks to drivers. With a specific pricing scheme such as this, we can’t control where in lower Manhattan goes, but we can begin to control when it goes there.
