New York City - Transit News

[mrnyc]

Peak traffic hours will be:

from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays —

and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.

[dchan]

Originally Posted by chris08876

AFAIK, these are are the only free bridge routes:

1. From Brooklyn: Brooklyn Bridge to FDR north (ramp doesn't enter city streets)

2. From Manhattan: FDR north & south to Brooklyn Bridge (ramps don't enter city streets)

3. From Queens: Queensboro Bridge upper roadway (the ramp exits north of 60 St)

[dchan]

Originally Posted by Crawford

If people want to enter the congestion zone and are cheapskates, and don't meet the lower income discounts, you can always enter overnight. It's just $2.25, less than a subway fare.

Most businesses will benefit from this. Say a plumber, who enters Manhattan daily and does say 3-4 jobs. A $9 toll for less congestion will save him more than sitting in traffic. And his customers, already being charged hundreds for him just showing up, can eat the proportional $2 or whatever.

I live nearby 60 St, so I woke up shortly after midnight to drive my car into the toll zone then back to my apartment building. Then I drove my car to my garage in Queens this morning (it's near my office).

Passenger cars will only be charged once per day, so I am hoping to only pay $2.25. I will see what my EZ Pass account says in a few days.

Commercial traffic will take the brunt of the tolls because they can be charged a fee multiple times per day (not just once per day). Each time they enter the congestion zone they will pay a fee of $14.40 or $21.60, depending on the size of the truck (small box trucks pay less) or the type of bus (charter buses pay less, tour buses pay more).

We won't know how drivers and businesses will respond to the toll until they become familiarized with it over a couple of months.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by dchan

We won't know how drivers and businesses will respond to the toll until they become familiarized with it over a couple of months.

To some extent, but this isn't the first or only congestion pricing plan in operation. London's has been around for quite a few years for instance. And while there can be differences between cultures there are also many constants of human psychology. So we can have a decent idea of how people will respond.

[Crawford]

Right, and it's not like there isn't a 4,500 page federal report detailing the anticipated congestion pricing impacts. This has been studied to death. It's most likely that the business impacts are negligible or slightly positive. Of course results may vary. But businesses, especially in the last few years, have been strangled by congestion. Midtown speeds have never been slower.

[Crawford]

From today's NYT congestion pricing coverage:

"Andrei Biriukov, an elevator mechanic, raved about the lack of traffic on Monday. “Today is amazing,” said Biriukov, 38, a Staten Island resident originally from Ukraine. He said he could cruise to jobs, arrive early and find parking right out front — and the roads felt “not dangerous.” He conceded that his employer pays the tolls; he believes the company will recoup the value in more prompt service and happier employees."

The tolling will remove the regional toll shoppers (the cheapskates using Canal Street to head to Jersey and the like) and the people who just drive into Manhattan bc it's free (someone visiting their auntie on the LES, etc.) while keeping the businesses who need to use the roads. This is likely a big win for them.

[dchan]

^ We can't extrapolate anything from today because it's Three Kings Day (alternate side parking suspended) and there is a small snowstorm forecasted. We will see what the effects are like over the coming weeks and months.

Will regular drivers stop using Manhattan as a pass-through to get from Long Island to NJ-mainland and vice versa because it's no longer free? Perhaps? But they aren't only using going through Manhattan because it's free. Because of the area's geography, going through the heart of Manhattan also often happens to be the most direct way to go through. Going south through Staten Island is no picnic. Neither is going north to the GWB (or in more extreme cases, the Tappan Zee). Depending on where they are coming from and where they are headed to, I think many drivers will do the time vs. money math and still choose to drive through Manhattan.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by dchan

^ We can't extrapolate anything from today because it's Three Kings Day (alternate side parking suspended) and there is a small snowstorm forecasted. We will see what the effects are like over the coming weeks and months.

They're already comparing apples-apples to last year's holiday, and congestion is lower. And congestion on Sunday was lower. And transit ridership is higher.

Of course, we cannot be certain of all long-term modal effects until we have years of data, but so far CP has worked exactly as intended.

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by Crawford

"Andrei Biriukov, an elevator mechanic, raved about the lack of traffic on Monday. “Today is amazing,” said Biriukov, 38, a Staten Island resident originally from Ukraine. He said he could cruise to jobs, arrive early and find parking right out front — and the roads felt “not dangerous.” He conceded that his employer pays the tolls; he believes the company will recoup the value in more prompt service and happier employees."

It's always funny how quickly drivers change their mind about congestion pricing once they realize the streets have less traffic....This at least means drivers will likely fight to preserve congestion pricing if anyone at the State or Federal level tries to kill it

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

To some extent, but this isn't the first or only congestion pricing plan in operation. London's has been around for quite a few years for instance. And while there can be differences between cultures there are also many constants of human psychology. So we can have a decent idea of how people will respond.

we do here too -- because it's reinventing the wheel. there was previously a commuter tax, but bloomberg zapped it.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Right, and it's not like there isn't a 4,500 page federal report detailing the anticipated congestion pricing impacts. This has been studied to death. It's most likely that the business impacts are negligible or slightly positive. Of course results may vary. But businesses, especially in the last few years, have been strangled by congestion. Midtown speeds have never been slower.

I'd expect the business effect to be overwhelmingly positive, the odd anecdotal counter-example not withstanding.

People forget that business had to pay congestion pricing already, particularly in the form of increased labour costs for drivers who were stuck in traffic while performing their duties. But also in shipping/delivery delays that affect their productivity and vehicular wear and energy costs. CP will significantly cut those costs. Congestion itself costs the economy billions of dollars yet many people act like it's going from "no cost" to "cost". The difference is that with congestion, the value lost to the economy is mostly destroyed (lost time, wasted fuel, etc.) therefore not benefiting anyone, while the cost paid for congestion pricing is just diverted to other productive uses like infrastructure creation/maintenance rather than being destroyed.

The other difference is that before, road space was allocated only to the people with enough time and patience to wait in congestion which means that business was competing with people non-business users who often had more time to spend. Whereas now, business can outbid non-business road users more easily since businesses are making money from their use of road space while non-business users typically aren't.

[mrnyc]

ny gov finally steps up --



NYC’s Subway Violence Deters Drive to Bring Workers Back to Office

Story by Nacha Cattan


(Bloomberg) -- New Yorkers are having an unsettling start to 2025.

Several violent incidents in recent days, including on the subway, are deepening the sense that chaos and disorder are gripping the city and undermining public safety.

They helped make 2024 one of the most dangerous years on record for commuters, at a time when the biggest US city is still working to rebound fully from the pandemic. Office buildings have been drained of workers — vacancies stand near 20% - and weekday ridership on the city’s buses and subways are below pre-Covid levels. That’s a big concern for business leaders who say their workers are fearful.


more:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ar-AA1x3xkl


***


New York governor to push for expanded mental health laws, citing violence on subway

BY ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE
Updated 3:07 PM EST, January 3, 2025


ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to expand the state’s involuntary commitment laws to allow hospitals to compel more mentally ill people into treatment, following a series of violent crimes in the New York City subway system.

In a statement Friday, Hochul, a Democrat, said she would push to change mental health care laws during the coming legislative session in an attempt to address what she described as a surge of crimes on the subway.

“Many of these horrific incidents have involved people with serious untreated mental illness, the result of a failure to get treatment to people who are living on the streets and are disconnected from our mental health care system,” she said.

“We have a duty to protect the public from random acts of violence, and the only fair and compassionate thing to do is to get our fellow New Yorkers the help they need.”


more:
https://apnews.com/article/nyc-subway-ne...pand,New%20York%20City%20subway%20system.

[mrnyc]

metro-north improvements --



Metro-North Hudson Line service would get boost under new Gov. Hochul proposal

By Andrew Giambrone
Published Jan 6, 2025

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is slated to outline her policy agenda in her annual State of the State address next week, and as part of it, she says she will pitch a "major investment" in Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line, which carries thousands of commuters daily between Manhattan and Poughkeepsie.

...
The governor's proposal includes planning out upgrades like a second track at the Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx, signal and track enhancements at the Croton-Harmon station in Westchester County, and capacity increases at Poughkeepsie Yard in Dutchess County. If implemented, the changes would promote safety, lower potential travel times by up to 15 minutes for some trips, and cut "super-express" trips to less than 90 minutes, Hochul said.

The MTA, which operates Metro-North, will also advance a signaling redesign near the Yonkers station and resiliency projects in the sections of the Hudson Line that have the highest ridership and are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, according to Hochul's office. Transit officials said weather-related events in recent years have underscored the need to bolster the line against risks like mudslides and flooding.

Ridership has been increasing on the Hudson Line, with the MTA reporting more than 12 million rides in 2023, up 21% from the roughly 10 million rides the year before. Bronx ridership to and from Manhattan rose nearly 18% on the line over that period, Metro-North data shows.


more:
https://gothamist.com/news/metro-north-h...-get-boost-under-new-gov-hochul-proposal

[streetscaper]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

I'd expect the business effect to be overwhelmingly positive, the odd anecdotal counter-example not withstanding.

People forget that business had to pay congestion pricing already, particularly in the form of increased labour costs for drivers who were stuck in traffic while performing their duties. But also in shipping/delivery delays that affect their productivity and vehicular wear and energy costs. CP will significantly cut those costs. Congestion itself costs the economy billions of dollars yet many people act like it's going from "no cost" to "cost". The difference is that with congestion, the value lost to the economy is mostly destroyed (lost time, wasted fuel, etc.) therefore not benefiting anyone, while the cost paid for congestion pricing is just diverted to other productive uses like infrastructure creation/maintenance rather than being destroyed.

The other difference is that before, road space was allocated only to the people with enough time and patience to wait in congestion which means that business was competing with people non-business users who often had more time to spend. Whereas now, business can outbid non-business road users more easily since businesses are making money from their use of road space while non-business users typically aren't.

Nicely put

[mrnyc]

day one of cp —


https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEc4Q-lp3_0/?igsh=eDB3cDZjZXE0djNr

[streetscaper]

repurposed old video, but funny lol

[202_Cyclist]

I drive from New Rochelle to Queens for work. I left the same time today as I usually do and my commute was about 5 - 10 minutes faster. Presumably, some of the people who would be on I-95 or the Cross Island Parkway driving to Manhattan weren't driving today.

[Crawford]

Has anyone been on Canal Street since congestion pricing was initiated? It's waaaay better now.

Canal had possibly the worst traffic anywhere in the city, with all these toll evaders traveling west to NJ, due to free bridges on East River side and free westbound crossings on Hudson River side. The one-way tolling creates weird incentives.

The Manhattan cut-thru looks done, and that will be a big boost to people who actually need the roads for their business, plus a huge boost for pedestrians and bike riders.

[202_Cyclist]

My commute home from Queens yesterday evening also seemed to be a couple of minutes faster.

[Gantz]

Originally Posted by dchan

3. From Queens: Queensboro Bridge upper roadway (the ramp exits north of 60 St)

The upper deck at Queensboro is a complete disaster. It is one giant traffic jam now.
61st and 62nd St off the ramp is now like a parking lot lol.
And this is before all people realized that you can save $9 by taking the upper deck. The word fast got out, but there are obviously some clueless drivers out there still.