By Gus Saltonstall
Lots of groups are hoping to gain exemption from paying the incoming congestion pricing tolls in Manhattan next year, and Snoopy, Buzz Lightyear, and all of their friends have succeeded.
Congestion pricing infrastructure planned for Central Park West and 60th Street won’t be installed until after the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, because it will get in the way of the iconic floats and balloons, City Councilmember Gale Brewer and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) confirmed exclusively to West Side Rag.
The MTA does not have an exact date for when the congestion pricing infrastructure will go up on Central Park West after this year’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 23, but the infrastructure will have to be taken down and put back up each year for the parade.
“The parade-day treatment for central business district tolling equipment in future years would be no different than other street infrastructure that’s removed as the parade starts and replaced as the parade ends, like traffic lights,” MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan told West Side Rag. “The City already undertakes similar parade preparations, overseeing the removal and reinstallation of streetscape items like streetlights, signage, and street furniture to facilitate parade operations.”
Congestion pricing scanners and infrastructure are already up in many locations across 60th Street in Manhattan, including on Broadway.
Donovan added that the cost of annually taking the infrastructure up and down was included in the MTA’s $507 million contract with TransCore in 2019 to not just design the system, but also to operate and maintain it, which included parade-related activity.
Brewer told West Side Rag that she was happy Macy’s was not footing the bill for the congestion pricing materials to go up and down each year for its beloved parade.
“Parades in general will have to be a topic with the congestion infrastructure, so many of them go across 60th Street,” Brewer said. “It’s a bigger issue and I never heard any discussions about it whatsoever.”
To receive WSR’s free email newsletter, click here.
Congestion pricing has to go away. We put different lanes – bus, bikes and add the restaurant sheds, the streets are now very narrow and of course, congested. It is just putting the burden on us, tax-payers. Find a different and better solution.
Congestion has little to do with this. It’s about channeling money to the MTA and it’s contractors to spend as usual with little to no accountability. And for people who don’t care about the $25 to save a few minutes while everyone else sits in traffic on the perimeter highways or fights for parking spots on the UWS. Our life is about to change.
That’s not how it works. More lanes doesn’t decrease traffic, it increases it.
Congestion pricing is law and will start next year. If you don’t want to pay the toll, take the train.
And how can I bring car full of goods to my daughter on 23rd street?
Drag it all on the train?
4ea 20 packs of paper towels
3 18 packs of toilet paper
a tray of Seltzer
On the subway???????
Cut the congestion pricine.
You can have that delivered for free from Target/Amazon/etc
Stop shopping in nyc like I do. You pay one toll and all the free parking my eyes can see in NJ
Good news! Paper towels, toilet paper and seltzer are sold at many, many stores in your daughter’s neighborhood and are available online for delivery, saving you the toll.
Order online and have them shipped directly.
Gosh – the City keeps insisting there is too much congestion and thus essential need for CP…
And yet the City keeps creating new congestion like Extell’s super-tall 51 story hotel (with “ride”) going up at 45th and Eighth Ave and Vornado’s film-tv studio at Pier 94 among many others.
And when the casino eventually gets built , no doubt all those gamblers will be bicycling there LOL
Agree as well as talk of casinos in Times Sq and Hudson Yards.
Don’t get why all the anti-CP comments pretend the subway doesn’t exist, ie by far the most common form of transportation in Manhattan….
The subway does exist, not everybody lives near one, is able to take one, or wants to take one. It’s okay for UWSers who can afford to live here to use uber or lyft on the regular, but people who don’t have the privilege of living here or have family ties elsewhere in the metro area which spans four states be damned. I’ll also point out that today its take the train, tomorrow Manhattan is a defacto gated community ONLY for those who are able to live in Manhattan.
UWS Dad. They say CP is for MTA to help build so they need more money. Yet they don’t even know what to do with the money they have now. This is just a way to tax is more and pay for city projects no one asked for. Some people have to drive into the city for work and it’s not fair that they have to pay for the city and mta not knowing how to budget correctly. Things will only get worst after this. Hell they want background checks on purchases of 3r printers.
UWS Dad,
I don’t know how to drive. I take the subway, bus and walk.
But CP is completely unfair.
Tons of non-rich people who live far away and must drive in like night security guards where I work.
And CP will increase taxi & uber costs. So if you need to take a taxi to take sick kid to the doctor, you’ll be paying more.
If I have to rush my kid to the hospital, then the $25 CP fare will be well worth it. CP will reduce traffic so would make the trip quicker as well.
Subway does exist and nobody is pretending. Nobody is pretending crimes are committed there daily. It is full of aggressive mentally ill.
Luckily no one was ever hurt, maimed or killed riding in a car, right?
If you look at the data you’ll see that you’re a lot safer in the subway than on the road.
Data schmata. We use facts that support our conclusions, rather than have conclusions that are supported by facts.
Open streets brilliant idea to accommodate 2 toddlers riding their tricycles in the middle of the street is surely doesn’t help the congestion.
It’s all the toddlers fault! That’s why there’s never any congestion from Monday to Saturday when there’s no Open Streets.
Open Streets forces bus diversion.
Really disturbing that DOT and the bicycle lobby TransAlt are not actually concerned about mass transit.
They’re concerned about having NYC for themselves and people who think like them.
Can’t wait until congestion pricing goes into effect so me and my family can breathe a little easier. Less traffic, less noise, less smog, lower carbon emissions, fewer crashes, and more funding for public transportation! I understand that some people were used to polluting the neighborhood with tailpipe emissions for free and they’re upset about having to pay for it going forward, but for the majority of the neighborhood this is a win-win-win-win.
That is not going to happen. You’re not going to see improved transit nor less traffic. In fact what’s more likely is congestion pricing’s repeal after a backlash when people wake up.
If you live above 60th street you will have more of everything you say you will have less of.
The Upper West Side will become a ghost town. Already the new buildings have no garages! So where do those people park? People will try to park on the UWS to aoive the CP fee. It will be gridlock up here. I’m stressed because I will be forced to leave NYC because of your 2 toddlers1
Josh P –
Reminder:
1) anyone ordering ecommerce is contributing to vehicle emissions.
2) CP will not lower bus & subway fares.
3) CP will do zero for bus riders as CP is only for capital projects.
1) anyone engaged in any commerce is contributing to vehicle emissions. Do you think Macy’s stocks its shelves via subway?
2) and 3) Congestion pricing won’t give me a six-pack but it will still reduce pollution, global warming, noise, traffic deaths and injuries, and generate money for increasing subway service or just keeping it flat in the face of inflation.
If you live on the UWS, there will likely be increased congestion – people who come into the city will be avoiding midtown/downtown. Great for UWS restaurants, businesses, and parking garages, but I would be very surprised if we see less traffic in the neighborhood.
It depends on the number of cars driving to the UWS vs the number driving through the UWS. Fewer drivers going into Midtown means fewer people using our avenues to get to Midtown. Other cities have shown that that people parking on the edge of the zone is relatively minimal and overall traffic is lower.
If there is an increase in traffic though then we should advocate to have the zone expanded to include the UWS up to 96th or 110th St or to cover all of Manhattan.
Glad I don’t live downtown. Imagine having to pay $46 every time you want to leave your neighborhood. And yes, I predominately bike or ride the subway to get around the city, but having a car for weekend trips upstate, visiting friends/family outside of the city, or the occasional Costco trip has improved my quality of life so much.
Well as long as your life is better, I don’t see how anyone can argue with that.
right? he got his, no one else matters.
What provisions will be made for residents living on 59th street and Columbus? Every time we leave our apartment do we have to pay 23.00 to come home?
Or, I left to go to LI to see my grandchildren. I have to pay a bridge toll and 23$ to come back home?
don’t drive and the answer will always be no.
Agreed. I’d like to know too. Why should people who live below 60th street be penalized for driving to and from their homes-
cause you’re driving is ruining the city and the environment and your entitlement is showing.
Teslas will be exempt right? Or at least the ones charged by solar? Because it’s about the environment after all and not a money grab for transit unions and the well connected MTA vendors.
Today’s article in the NYT “From A to B”, highlights the how US doesn’t invest in the future of our travel infrastructure. We are light years behind other countries. In Shanghai it takes 10 minutes to get 20 miles from city center to the airport via hi-speed train, whereas in NYC it takes min 30 mins to LGA. Instead of NYC building a massive parking garage in an outer borough with a hi-speed train to the city, they do something like this to prevent congestion. More like lining pockets… SMH!!!
Will make the West 60s a parking lot as cars turn North and idle in traffic for hours. I think West 63rd should be closed to though traffic to avoid this.
how did you figure out what all the engineers and data scientists have not?
pretty sure the environmental assessment cleared this as not a concern and just fearmongering.
Another CP contradiction/irony:
The MTA wants vehicles because it wants the CP revenue.
The bicycle lobby does not want vehicles so that there is opportunity to expand the bike infrastructure.
And per other comment:
CP will not lower bus & subway fares.
CP will do zero for bus riders as CP is only for capital projects.
And the City is creating even more congestion!
The Mayor is lifting cap on Ubers as long as they are electric.
https://nypost.com/2023/10/19/nyc-lifts-cap-on-for-hire-cars-provided-theyre-electric/
Vote for a mayor who favors Brooklyn and Manhattan will get screwed.
Has there been any chatter about a carveout for Manhattan residents? I feel like the intent behind the policy is to reduce people driving into NYC, but those of us already here with cars should potentially be excluded from any congestion pricing.
Huh interesting, as Manhattan resident’s cars still contribute to congestion, I’d say that’s against the whole point of congestion pricing…
UWS Dad:
Manhattan residents in the CP zone can drive within it – no charge.
So parent in expensive Tribeca condo can freely drive kids to school at – let’s say – Friends Seminary.
NYC already has a form of congestion pricing — Brooklyn Bridge (free) is more crowded than the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (toll), 59th Street Bridge (free) is more crowded than RFK Bridge (toll)… People adjust to the price and speed they can tolerate.
Another method to raise everything on all nyers!! Don’t think your not going to pay for congestion pricing because you ride a bike. CP will be the killer of small biz already struggling.
To everyone insisting that this Congestion Pricing scheme will lower traffic – why do you think that? There are no requirements that it reduce congestion. No metrics. No benchmarks. The only requirement is raising money. There is no requirement that the air will be easier to breathe or that mass transit will improve. Only money.
And the NYers who live is the zone are completely screwed: unable to avoid the zone, paying more to travel, and paying more for all goods in the zone which will pass the increased costs onto residents. This is an absolute nightmare. A good idea like congestion pricing is being implemented as only a money-grab. This is going to destroy downtown.