Unfortunately, it wouldn't work. I wouldn't last the weekend on a scooter in Manhattan -- I'd get killed.
Traffic in midtown and downtown is out of control. There are two conditions: total gridlock, in which traffic grinds to a standstill and it can take an hour to travel a mile and a half crosstown, or total frenzy, where, given any room to maneuver at all, cars take off from red lights like corks escaping from champagne bottles, reaching speeds of 60 mph within the block. They are then obliged to slam on the brakes for the next red light two blocks ahead, as the signals aren't sychronized for drag racing. There is no in between -- these are the two states of NYC traffic.
And so, Manhattan drivers are insane. The stress level is such that road rage is the normative psychological state. You either operate your vehicle in a hyper-aggressive manner (cabbies, delivery drivers and owners of cars built before 1998) or you drive super-cautiously (seniors, diplomats, tourists and doctors in Porsches and Beemers). A day trip into the city is like setting off on the Crusades -- you can't be sure when you'll be back or what shape you'll be in.
And that's just driving. Don't get me started on biking or walking. Between the traffic, the noise pollution and air the quality of Charles Dickens' London, strolling through the streets of New York has become an exercise in masochism. You'd think, someday, the people would rise up collectively and take back New York, the most exciting city in the world without an Eiffel Tower.
Well, the future just may be now. The New York City Council voted Monday, 30-20, to approve Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing measure. As described in the New York Times:
"The congestion pricing plan...would charge drivers with an E-ZPass $8 a day to enter Manhattan below 60th Street on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Those drivers would also receive a credit for bridge or tunnel tolls they paid on the same day. Drivers without an E-ZPass would pay $9 and would not receive credit for tolls."
The plan would generate some $500 million per year to be applied to mass transit improvements, that is, buses, subways and trains. The U.S. Department of Transportation has pledged $354 million in federal grants to help fund the program. Now the plan just needs to get past the New York State Legislature, a very long way from a done deal.
This is not a new idea -- it's just new to Americans. Singapore has had congestion pricing since 1975. It has reduced traffic by 45%, traffic accidents by 25% and increased public transportation usage by 20%, all while Singapore's population and economy have continued to grow. Stockholm, Sweden initiated congestion pricing in its central city in 2006. It has already resulted in a 15% reduction in traffic and a 10-14% drop in carbon dioxide emissions. London began a congestion pricing program in 2003. They've seen a 30% drop in congestion, 20% decrease in fossil fuel consumption and a 37% increase in traffic speed in the city. And, it generated $241 million for the city. Although Londoners were skeptical initially, now 78% of those who pay the fees are satisfied with the system. Germany, Italy and Norway are all experimenting with variations.
But it just hasn't passed the smell test in America, for the most part. We have this perverse love affair with our cars. We like them big and we like them fast. We'd prefer a four-door to a coupe, and an SUV to a sedan. An inline-six is nice but what would really make us happy would be eight, or even twelve, cylinders. Gas is at $3.50 a gallon and we're ready to storm the palace. (Never mind that it's over eight bucks a gallon in the U.K. and more than $8.50 in Germany.) It is our Manifest Destiny to live atop a two-car garage in the suburbs and ignore the HOV lanes on our commute into work each morning.
Critics of the plan argue that it will function as a regressive tax because poor and working class folks are less able to afford the daily fee. Well, all things being equal, aren't all taxes basically regressive? The wealthy are always affected less than the poor -- it's the whole point of being wealthy. But, to the critics' point, the poor and working classes already use public transportation in disproportionate numbers in large cities. This plan will affect a smaller percentage of them than any other demographic. If anything, the additional mass transit funding will improve their quality of life.
Critics also worry that small businesses will be hurt by the higher costs of transporting goods into and out of the city under the plan. Fair enough. However, the Partnership for New York City recently estimated that the current congestion is costing New Yorkers over $13 billion a year in late deliveries, wasted fuel and extra transport time. It all depends which side of the coin you want to look at.
Which is the point, really. We, as a country, insist upon measuring everything in dollars and cents. We constantly confuse quality of life with standard of living. We take our two weeks of vacation each year in Mexico or Italy and delight in the relaxed pace of life, complete with siesta and passeggiata. We promise ourselves we will reprioritize our own lives. But invariably, within a few weeks of returning home, we are back to working 10-12 hours, 6-7 days each week.
The thing is, it's not all about the money. It's not even all about quality of life. It's about saving the planet. Not for the next generation, if that doesn't move you. For this generation.
An ice shelf seven times the size of the island of Manhattan -- about 160 square miles in area -- collapsed into the sea off Antarctica this month as a direct result of global warming. Which, unless you're a liar or an idiot or both, you'd have to admit is inarguably a result, in part, of the greenhouse gases created by sitting in a 5:00 traffic jam in New York City. So is the fact that lobsters are dying out as their waters warm. And Pacific salmon. As is the increase in hurricanes, floods and fires. The list is long and you can read it here.
This is not a catastrophe waiting to happen. It's happening. Politicians used to argue that we had an obligation to turn over a healthy planet to our children. The hell with them -- the water's rising now. Money has to be spent now. Sacrifices need to be made now.
It's not what we're used to doing, sacrifice. No one is going to confuse the baby boomers with the Greatest Generation. Nor Bush with FDR. The only sacrifice we've been urged to make to help support the war in Iraq, for instance, is to get out there and shop.
Al Gore is kicking off a $300 million, three-year ad campaign to sell us on the concept that we're destroying the earth and we need to stop now. Coincidentally, an amount similar to the $300 million and change that the DOT is planning to give New York City to start clearing the streets. People make a big deal out of those numbers. Such an investment, such a sacrifice.
$300 million is what we spend every eighteen hours on the Iraq War. So don't tell me that a few hundred million is too much to spend on a cleaner, healthier, safer, saner New York City.
It won't be "Roman Holiday," however. My girlfriend will never get on a scooter.
No comments:
Post a Comment