As a resident of Manhattan, I can feel the heartbeat of my neighborhood on the UWS and spot trends as they develop. Today, the Sunday one week after the introduction of congestion pricing, I felt like I lived in a Ghost town. Now, Sunday mornings in Manhattan run slowly, but today felt more empty than usual.
Throughout the week leading up to Friday, traffic appeared to dwindle. I believe this is due to regular drivers starting to curb or restructure their commutes or routes to support a more dollar-optimized path.
If we examine the behavioral change, is this or was this the intended result? Theories circulated that the UWS would be inundated with commuters looking to park above the congestion pricing line and then catch a train downtown. This was an interesting assertion, whereby it suggests that to save $9.00/day the commuter would find free parking and then pay 2.75 to ride MTA?! Imagine that this commuter also came from New Jersey and came across the George Washington Bridge to avoid getting charged at the Lincoln Tunnel and other mid-town tunnels. The whole effort seems unsustainable!
 | This was the plan This is how it was explained This is how they do it in London WELCOME TO NYC WE DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY HERE |
The above is only one case. Imagine the mayhem of all commuters each week seeking the same route, is it unsustainable at scale? If congestion pricing is intended to push commuters into public transportation it may be working but at what cost. Was it intended to encourage people to live closer to their jobs in the city and thus increase residential occupancy? How is this possible when commercial leases are at all time lows and lessees are running from NYC. Was it intended to support commercial real estate owners and their number of tenants? A case in point, is the building leased by a company I work for lies below the congestion line. That company has employees with a wide range of salary and hourly wage earners. Most will use the MTA, some have to use cabs now and then, others drive in. For most employees already using public to come in to the office, little has changed. Those who used to drive in are parking above the line on the UWS and using a train for the last mile. The landlord is getting killed because the property is 70% vacant with little prospect to ever fill. The expectation is a rent reduction BUT, that property has an outstanding loan which is based on its occupancy and rent amounts distributed across available space. Landlords like this one already had challenges after COVID made remote work a popular choice for city workers, now this landlord fights another uphill battle beyond the COVID recovery 5 years later! The burden is just piled on! Rents in the city will have to increase as strange as this sounds.
Overall, one week in, we as residents of Manhattan should have serious concerns regarding the impact of this system on our lives. As predicted, it is clear that the cost of living will have to increase in order to support life here on this rock. For all it’s glory, we will have to pay to play.
Some fun references
Is Congestion Pricing Working?
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/nyc-congestion-pricing-one-week
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congestion_pricing
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/congestion-pricings-first-work-week-winds-down
Discover more from NYC Congestion Pricing
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