According to a recent poll conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, most New Yorkers support Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan, which will charge drivers who enter the heart of Manhattan during weekday rush hours an $8 fee. Of residents polled in the city, Long Island and Westchester and Rockland counties, 81 percent supported the proposal after hearing that the city’s population will increase by an estimated 1 million people over the next 20 years. As part of PlaNYC—which the mayor hopes will cut NYC’s carbon emissions by 30 percent by the year 2030—the motorist tax would apply to all non-resident commuters entering Manhattan below 86th Street between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. during the week. Critics worry it could worsen congestion in the outer boroughs and Uptown neighborhoods like Harlem, turning those areas into giant parking lots. Existing tolls would absorb much of the tax (commuters paying $6 to drive through the Lincoln Tunnel, for example, would only pay another two bucks), but that doesn’t help outer borough drivers. Manhattanites, however, generally give the tax a thumbs-up—especially since PlaNYC includes a nice purse of funds for mass transit. Charge tourists and commuters more so New Yorkers don’t have to pay increased subway fares? Who in Manhattan wouldn’t love that?
