Give green light to tolling plan

Have you driven your car at all in the last few months?

Then in all likelihood, you've found yourself stuck in traffic.

Perhaps commuters are still staying away from public transit. Or perhaps the world has begun to reopen and Long Islanders are anxious to return to their routines. But wherever you drive at whatever time of day, traffic now seems worse than it did before we all learned about a dangerous new virus.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic is an everyday occurrence now. It's particularly awful heading into New York City, and especially in midtown and downtown Manhattan, as many commuters are not yet willing to take the subway, bus or train.

Something has to change.

That starts with tolling Manhattan's central business district.

The plan is simple: Toll any vehicle that enters the zone at or below 60th Street in Manhattan. That means ending the free ride vehicles now get if they cross the Williamsburg, Manhattan, Brooklyn or 59th Street bridges. The money raised — an expected $1 billion annually — will be put toward public transit capital improvements, and the Long Island Rail Road is guaranteed to receive 10%.

It's the best way to get people out of their cars and onto the trains, reduce traffic and air pollution, improve quality of life, and upgrade the region's public transportation system. And despite critics' claims to the contrary, lower-income New York City and Long Island residents would be helped, not hurt, by the effort, since far more of them take the train already, and either don't have cars at all, or don't tend to drive into Manhattan.

PLAN HAS BEEN GRIDLOCKED

The region desperately needs the tolling plan, which has been discussed for years but never has been closer to becoming reality than it is right now. While the State Legislature approved the plan, known as congestion pricing, in 2019, the proposal was slow to move because of delays in environmental go-aheads and other holdups caused by the pandemic.

But now, the plan is inching forward, albeit still in bureaucratic molasses. A series of virtual public hearings, each targeting a different geographic area, were an opportunity for residents and elected officials to comment over the last two weeks.

What's clear: Some hate the tolling plan, others fully support it. And many say they favor the concept — as long as it doesn't apply to them.

During the hearings, it seemed residents expected exemptions to be handed out like candy — to all New York City residents, or those crossing a New Jersey bridge or tunnel, or anyone who rides a motorcycle or drives a hybrid car, works in a service industry or health care, earns less than a certain amount of money, lives in the tolling zone, or lives outside the tolling zone.

No. That won't work.

In a world where everyone is exempt, congestion pricing won't accomplish its goals. The more the number of exemptions, the higher the toll would have to be to raise the needed revenue. Already, the possible toll ranges from $9 to $35, though it would go that high only for those without E-ZPass. The final cost likely will vary based on time of day and other circumstances.

For a tolling plan to work, exemptions must be as limited as possible. Those already agreed to — for people with disabilities and for emergency vehicles — make sense. It should stop there.

TOLLING TO CHANGE BEHAVIOR

Does that mean Long Islanders will pay more to drive into midtown or downtown Manhattan? It certainly does. But it may encourage Nassau and Suffolk County residents to get out of their cars and take the LIRR when they're heading into Manhattan. And it's a good time to be changing such behavior, as the railroad's Third Track project and East Side Access effort to connect to Grand Central Terminal are expected to be completed by the end of 2022 — likely before the central business district toll is implemented.

During the Long Island public hearing Wednesday, only 10 people spoke, with eight favoring congestion pricing. Some questioned the very essence of the effort.

"Why should I as a Long Islander have to pay an additional fee to drive into New York City to do what I love to do?" said one resident. "Please consider what Long Islanders will feel."

The answer is that all residents have to do their part to reduce traffic, improve mass transit, and address climate change.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority now is navigating what has been a slow, complicated process to make the tolling plan a reality. The authority says it needs 16 months just for the environmental review, so a pricing plan wouldn't start until at least partway through 2023. The MTA and its federal partners should work quickly so the tolling can begin as soon as possible.

Some, however, have suggested congestion pricing should be delayed or scrapped because of the pandemic. If anything, the opposite is true. With traffic at a standstill and the area's economic standing on precarious footing, we need to do everything we can to jump-start the recovery. That doesn't end with central business district tolling. But it certainly can start there.