STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Members of the group responsible for figuring out how much drivers will be charged to drive into Manhattan’s Central Business District under the MTA’s congestion pricing program certainly had their hands full as they met for the first time Wednesday to outline the various considerations that must be taken into account in formulating the tolls.
The Traffic Mobility Review Board (TMRB) is a six-member panel that will recommend toll prices, credits, discounts and exemptions for New York City’s congestion pricing program, and its primary objective is to develop a tolling structure that will not only reduce traffic congestion on the busy streets of Manhattan, but also generate enough revenue to fund $15 billion in mass transit improvements.
There are seven key areas that the board must consider, with the decisions made in each area impacting the toll rates in their own unique way, making for what’s sure to be a complicated process.
Those areas include: discounts by time period; discounts for those already paying a toll to enter the Central Business District; rates for buses; rates for trucks; rates for government vehicles; plans for taxis and for-hire vehicles (FHVs), and other discounts and exemptions.
“The seven categories can’t be entirely viewed in isolation, because the decision on each one necessarily affects some or all of the others,” said Carl Weisbrod, TMRB chair and director of the New York City Department of City Planning.
In broad terms, the more caps, credits, discounts and exemptions granted, the higher the base toll will need to be in order to hit the necessary revenue threshold to fund improvements to the city’s transit system.
“For every discount, exemption or crossing credit that is provided, everyone else who continues to drive in must make up that difference, because in addition to reducing congestion we also have the requirement as part of the purpose of the project to raise sufficient net revenues of $15…
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