An MTA bus whisks past a congestion pricing gantry in Midtown on March 3, 2024.
Photo by Dean Moses
An advocacy group recommends the MTA make city buses free for the first week of congestion pricing in a bid to quickly incentivize drivers to switch to mass transit.
Open Plans, which advocates for streets centered more on pedestrians and cyclists and less on cars, released a 10-point “list of demands” that it says can be realistically implemented before the scheduled June start date of congestion pricing, which will levy a $15 toll on most motorists entering Manhattan south of 60th Street. The group says the improvements would help “highlight the positive outcomes [congestion pricing] will bring for all New Yorkers as well as visitors to the city.”
“It’s past time that our elected officials and policymakers start making sure that New Yorkers receive — and know about — the many benefits congestion pricing can and should facilitate, rather than just telling us to eat our vegetables because they’re good for us,” said Sara Lind, Open Plans’ co-executive director. “Congestion pricing will free up space to ensure that we have a more liveable, enjoyable streetscape.”
Number 1 on the group’s list is to eliminate fares on MTA buses and NYC Ferries for the first week of the program.
“Change is hard,” reads the report. “But free rides can incentivize taking public transit and allow hesitant New Yorkers to test out commuting on public transportation, easing some of the anxiety and burden of learning a new routine.”
The MTA is currently in the midst of a fare-free bus pilot that could end as soon as this month, or in the next six months. Five lines, one in each borough, went fare-free in September as part of the pilot program; New York City Transit chief Rich Davey told Our Town NY in December that ridership was up 20% on some of the lines.
Last week, Albany lawmakers in both the Assembly and Senate proposed…
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