If you think New York's congestion pricing plan is extreme--and most New Yorkers oppose it--things could get a lot worse. You wouldn't be able to hail a cab below 86th Street; instead you'd have to wait in line at a designated cab stand. You wouldn't be able to drive in Manhattan on the 5th, 15th or 25th of each month if your license ended in a 5. And street parking would cost as much as a garage.
These are some of the proposals being floated by the same New York commission that brought the $8-to-drive-your-car-below-86th-Street legislation. It's hard to imagine New Yorkers waiting patiently in line at a cab stand instead of throwing hands above each other's faces to grab their self-entitled ride. Cabs account for about a third of all traffic in the city. They waste tremendous amounts of fuel and contribute mightily to emissions cruising around looking for fares.
Grumbling aside, these proposals and the congestion pricing laws already in effect in London and Singapore are getting results. If there's any conclusion to draw from them, it's that carrots alone don't work for easing congestion. You have to use sticks.
Sources: New York Times, Village Voice, Newsday
