Congestion Pricing
Testimony on Congestion Pricing and Social and Environmental Justice
Joan Byron
Director, Sustainability and Environmental Justice Initiative
Pratt Center for Community Development
October 31, 2007
My name is Joan Byron; I direct the Sustainabilty and Environmental Justice Initiative of the Pratt Center for Community Development. For 45 years, the Pratt Center has supported community-based organizations all over New York City working for social, economic, and environmental justice, and I am especially proud of the work we've done with Bronx organizations who are in the forefront of those movements -- Nos Quedamos, the Point, Sustainable South Bronx, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, and more.
That's why we support congestion pricing -- because it is socially and economically progressive, as well as a step toward environmental justice.
The Bronx is a poster child for the unequal distribution of the environmental burdens created by New York City's pattern of growth, especially the burdens imposed by car and truck traffic. Traffic in the Bronx is increasing at a higher rate than any other part of New York City. Every day, hundreds of thousands of vehicles clog Bronx highways and streets, on their way to Manhattan from all over the region. Those children are the people we most need to protect from exposure to polluted air -- but instead, they are the most exposed. We can't solve this problem by building more and bigger highways -- already, over 225,000 people -- about 1 out of six Bronx residents -- live within 500 feet of heavily congested streets and highways. And that population includes disproportionately high numbers of the most vulnerable people -- children and seniors. This room is full of people who know the asthma statistics better than I do, so I'll just mention this one -- over 25% Bronx children - one child out of four - have been diagnosed with asthma.
Traffic doesn't just undermine the health of people living in the Bronx; it's choking the life out of Bronx economy. The food industry is a prime example - Bronx businesses rely on being able to get their products into Manhattan and the rest of the city; today, that trip is so slow and unpredictable that thousands of Bronx jobs are at risk. Ask any restaurant or bodega owner or greengrocer if the time their drivers now waste stuck in traffic on their way back from the Hunts Point Market is worth $21.
Treats, not tricks -- the 'alternatives' won't do the job. Proposals to cut congestion in Manhattan by tweaking signal timing, and cracking down on 'block-the-box', double-parking, etc will make driving to midtown and downtown more attractive, and will increase the volume of traffic through low- and moderate-income communities uptown and in the boroughs. Let's keep our eyes on the prize here -- the goal is to reduce traffic -- total vehicle-miles and vehicle-hours -- citywide, not just in the central business district. We're trying to make driving less attractive, not more.
Congestion pricing is not a 'tax on working-class people'. The overwhelming majority of Bronx residents and workers rely on public transportation; citywide, fewer than 4% of Bronx commuters drive to the Manhattan Central Business District and would ever have to pay the congestion charge. Only about one out of three Bronx families own cars; in the South Bronx, that number is one family out of five.
Bronx residents, like all New Yorkers, need strategic investments in transit. There are now 120,000 Bronx workers who commute 1 hour or more to work; the overwhelming majority of those workers are traveling by bus and by subway. 53,000 of those workers are commuting an hour or more to jobs where they earn less than $25,000 per year.
So yes, we support congestion pricing, but we also challenge the Commission to look beyond the minimum goals set by the legislation, and set the bar higher! You have been given the task of developing a set of recommendations that will achieve at minimum, a 6.3% in Vehicle Miles Traveled within the Manhattan Central Business District. That's a great start -- but we urge you to go wider and go deeper. Work with your staff to develop and compare complete congestion pricing scenarios -- combinations of pricing, boundaries, hours, and exemptions that might not only achieve the minimum mandated goal, but that would spread the congestion reduction benefits more widely. Look at parking, look at bridge tolls, look at the transit improvements -- especially bus rapid transit, pedestrian, and bike infrastructure -- that can be in place by the time congestion charging is implemented, to maximize both the reduction of car trips, and the enhancement of mobility for the communities in New York City that are now underserved by transit.
You won't have to look far -- the corridor that used to be served by the Third Avenue Elevated line -- the #8 -- in the Bronx has rebounded from the devastating population loss of the 1970s -- but the Bx55 shambles along.
So we ask you as well to take a critical look at how the precious pot of money that the congestion charge will generate could be spent. The chart in PlaNYC 2030 has $15 million going for State of Good Repair, $30 billion for a handful of big-ticket projects, many of which do more to create opportunities for real estate developers than to move New Yorkers to their jobs. Only $5 billion of the $50 billion total is allocated to Bus Rapid Transit, and the other bus, bike, and pedestrian improvements that will enhance most New Yorkers' access to jobs, education, and essential services, as well as the quality of life in neighborhoods across the spectrum. Bumping one or more of the big-ticket projects would allow us to double the allocation for BRT and other projects that will provide access to opportunity for the hundreds of thousands of people who now commute over an hour to jobs that pay less than $25,000 per year. And let's not forget about truck traffic: the Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel is the only strategy that has the potential to get 1,000,000 trucks per year off of the region's roads, and is a necessary project to serve the needs of the outer boroughs, address truck emissions, and deal with the projected growth of freight into the region. If only for its benefits to the Bronx, rail freight infrastructure deserves to make the list of priority transportation improvements.
