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The Brian Lehrer Show
Congestion Pricing: Taxi!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Sam Schwartz, president and CEO of traffic planning and engineering firm Sam Schwartz LLC and columnist for the Daily News, discusses the role taxis plays in the congestion pricing debate -- are they part of the solution or part of the congestion?
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Comments
13,000 yellow cabs driven almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week have the same effect as at least 80,000 commuters driving a 2 ton car with a 4.6 V8 with high mileage on it. The crown vic is an old ineffecient design, that has a tendency to blow oil past defective valve stem seals and which breaks often.
We could cut pollution in half from cabs by using the new Honda Accord as the NYC taxi. The 2008 Accord is now a full size car that gets better mileage with it's four cylinder engine than any other full size car. It is also the most reliable sedan sold in America and a ULEV--ultra low emission vehicle. The drivers will save about fifty percent on gas and be driving a more more reliable, safer, more comfortable, more nimble car.
Parts and service are readily available, unlike some to be named and developed hybrid sometime in the future.
The Crown Vic drivers are reporting 9 MPG in Manhattan in their cabs. The accord will do at least fifty percent better. Paint it yellow and hack it up--paint it black and it can replace all those gas guzzling Lincoln town cars.
Lawrence Ordine
#1--excellent points!
Here is my comment, since I live in the zone and were to use a cab just before the cutoff time (let's say 5:45pm) to my destination I still be charged the surcharge, right?! So if I wait the 15 mins, I would avoid the surcharge. Now if I were to board cabs (to the airport) before the morning start time (let's say 5:30am) but my arrival time puts me within the zone time period, I would incur the surcharge, right?!
The problem with taxi congestion isn't the number of taxis, it's the fact that they're allowed to cruise for fares. Most other cities have taxi stands to solve this problem, with no idling allowed. NYC needs to ban taxi-cruising.
If I have a lot of luggage and need to go to Penn Station (I am a photographer), I need to take a car service from where I live in Brooklyn because I cannot get a taxi. I should not be punished for living in Brooklyn -- again, since I do not get any deduction for driving into Manhattan unlike people from New Jersey, Westchester, and Long Island. Therefore, I do not agree that car services should have to pay the fee more than a taxi, or, as Gridlock Sam says, "10 times the amount of a taxi."
It is frustrating that those of us who live in the boroughs have to pay the bulk of this fee, in every way. It is the commuters who should be punished at least equally, if not more, than those of us who live in the Boroughs.
Some people see taxis as a luxury but I disagree. In a city where only the rich can afford to own cars, taxis are the tool that the rest of us use to: move large items, furniture and (in my case) musical instruments; allow the elderly and disabled to have a fuller, richer life; and generally allow us to experience a little relaxation and convenience for a change from the subways.
What would be better would be if they were better regulated, the cars were hybrids, electric or natural gas powered, and the drivers had more rights.
I live downtown and do not have a car; most of the time I use the subway, but once in a while I need a cab, to carry heavy stuff, or take my toddler long distances--the $1 fee basically punishes me for NOT keeping and driving a car in the city!
Lots of car owners don't drive into Manhattan because of the 'congestion'. If u reduce the congestion caused by cabs, won't that simply bring other cars in to re-congest?
Anyone who drives in Manhattan and is the least bit observant knows that the "congestion" is caused by cabs. There is one exception, when the yahoos come in to see "the tree" during the Christmas season.
Howecver there is a great problem: if we reduce the number of taxis u might inconvenience affluent Manhattanites and god knows we can't do that!
This TOLL is the very definition of regressive tax. Thanks billionaire Mike!
According to the bottle cap of the Snapple I just opened: "The speed limit in NYC was 8 mph in 1895."
How about assigning certain taxis to different boroughs to help with the problems of transport in outer boroughs.
Only the number of taxis in Manhattan should be reduced. Having a plethora of taxis in the central business district all competing for the same customers creates congestion. It also fosters unnecessary taxi rides in the areas best serviced by the subway.
Holders of multiple medallions should be forced to have a certain percentage of their fleet service travel within the outer boroughs or from the outer boroughs to Manhattan. It is virtually impossible to get a yellow taxi within Brooklyn or to Manhattan in most of Brooklyn. The only choice is to take a livery car that your guest proposes be highly fined for entering Midtown.
In my view congestion pricing is a farewell gift from the mayor to his elite constituents and supporters in Manhattan. The fact that the costs of congestion pricing so disproportinately affect outer borough residents as compaired to manhattanites is clear evidence of this as is the nominal taxi surcharge of $1 when they use cars compared to the $8 on the rest of us have to pay.
I am very disturbed by the congestion pricing plan. I grew up in NYC and find it detestable. There are other more creative ways to deal with congestion downtown. I've expressed some of these to Sheldon Silver and Chuck Schumer.
Here are some key points:
Previous speaker was correct:
Taxis are one of the main culprits, partly because of the numbers but mainly because there has been little or no policing of their practices. The main problem is when they pull over to pick up or drop off someone and they block two or more lanes. They used to get tickets for this.
No science in this plan. Environmental impact? Percentages of different types of traffic: construction, utilities, postal/package delivery, LTL delivery, major delivery.
Create satellite ares for people to park their cars that don't charge the normally exorbitant fees.
More pollution comes into NYC from NJ than from cars.
This so-called expert is a complete idiot: If I take a taxi and then the taxi picks up 100 other people during the course of the day, the taxi contributes far less congestion than if we each drove a car into Manhattan. "There are too many taxis in Manhattan" is only the observation of a frustrated driver.
The best solution would be to severely limit private cars in lower Manhattan and replace them with a fleet of minivans, say 6 minivans on each block, 3 headed in each direction. Keep the same number of taxis for people who are not going to any destination that the minivans cannot reach easily. And AUCTION, to the highest bidder, the right to drive 5,000 cars into Manhattan for the very rich who cannot bear to take public transportation.
I have a hard enough time now trying to convince/trick a cab driver into driving me over a bridge into Brooklyn.
The unique location of the on/off ramps for the Queensborough Bridge creates a problem for motorists proceeding south to exit Manhattan for Queens, who must enter the Bridge on either 59th Street (lower level) or 58th/57th Street (upper level ramp).
Since the City wishes to discourage automobiles from entering its defined zone, subject to Congestion Pricing, wouldn't it be to the City's advantage to allow such southbound (or westbound from York and First Avenues) to leave Manhattan and not subject such drivers to the surcharge? It strikes me that the zone can be ringed by electronic devices whose placement can differentiate between automobiles entering the Central Business District below 59th Street and those skirting it to use the Bridge to Queens, who should not be subject to such a tax.
No 8:
A $1 surcharge for an infrequent cab ride punishes you for not owning a car?? Think about the cost of the car -- after purchasing: insurance, maintenance, gas, parking -- garage or street (where you might get a ticket). You're telling me that the total yearly cost of owning a car is preferable to the total $1s for the cab rides you might take in one year? Think again.
This is terrible, all we are talking about is about having less cabs or more cabs with the NYC Price Congestion Plan. This is convenient talk because it accomplishes what Bloomberg wants, to distract us and take our eyes off the ball, this is a shameful distraction. We ned to keep talking about the need to stop congestion pricing because it a disgrace to 90% of NYC. Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Bronx and NYC residents above 60th Street pay taxes on purchases and their income for access to roads and the maintenance of such roads. Our taxes are no less than those living below the 60th Street Manhattan zone of the pricing plan. So, why are we bound to pay more than them if we pay the same taxes (on purchases and income) as they do? In that case, our taxes should be lowered because this feels like a new form of discrimination to me, ZIP CODE discrimination. We are getting charged more for access to the same service just because of our ZIP code. Lastly, we know the environmental argument is just that, an argument because people will still drive in with their cars from NJ and into the outer boroughs, from other areas, and then hop on the train. Which will become so congested due to that... therefore, they are still driving in except, they're just parking somewhere else. This is terrible!!!
As someone living downtown who has owned a car, a van, had a business which involved extensive driving within Manhattan and the boroughs, and uses a bicycle as my primary form of transportation, it is obvious to me that cabs are inherently inefficient in the city and there are simply too many of them.
Cabs are in direct competition with buses for road space. Is it fair that 3 people getting rides in 3 cabs can take up as much road space and get equal priority as a bus full of people? The bottom line is that due to cabs (and cars) buses have become extremely slow. Fewer cabs = faster and more extensive bus service. One of the callers, a cab driver, had the idea of having shared cabs that had specific pick up points going to specific places (example: go downtown to uptown along 1st ave). Great idea!
The idea that cabs can pull over anywhere to pickup and drop off riders seems ridiculous. It forces cabs to drive haphazardly, block lanes of traffic and have to hunt for riders (very dangerous). There should be more cab stands (specific places where people can catch cabs) to avoid having cabs block moving lanes of traffic.
Also, disabled and older people should be given priority for cabs.
Tons more details but this is already too long.
Bottom line: the balance should shift to more buses and shared vehicles like vans (real public transport) and better bike lanes. This would be possible by having fewer cabs and cars.
This thread is closed.
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