Trucks and for-profit buses, meanwhile, would pay stepped-up fees ranging from $24 to $36.Ĭongestion fees would be reduced during the quieter night hours, but would be in effect weekends. Those fees, which would come on top of a $2.75 congestion charge already imposed on for-hire rides in Manhattan, will be passed on to passengers, but will still hurt drivers if people forgo costlier rides into the city center, argues Raul Rivera of the driver advocacy group NYC Drivers Unite. Passengers using Uber, Lyft and other app-based rides in Manhattan would be assessed a $2.50 surcharge per trip, while taxis and black car riders would be taxed $1.25. Low-income city residents also can qualify for a discounted rate and a tax credit. So far, New York’s plan includes exemptions for emergency vehicles, transit buses, certain vehicles carrying people with disabilities and specialized government vehicles. “But the further and further you start going down that road, there lies madness.” “There’s always going to be carve-outs,” he said. That could be because the city has granted many exemptions - the city’s famous black cabs, vehicles transporting people with disabilities and even electric vehicles don’t pay the roughly $19 fee, according to Manville. While use of private cars there plummeted in the early years, traffic has essentially returned to pre-fee levels more than two decades on, he says. “New York has decided to invest in the infrastructure that makes New York possible.”Īmerican cities should take heed of London’s experience, suggests Michael Manville, a professor who chairs the urban planning department at UCLA. “New York is utterly and completely dependent on transit,” he said. People who don’t drive need a reliable and affordable mass transit system, said Danny Pearlstein, of the Riders Alliance. Only about 40% of city households own a car. “To the regular person that’s paying all this extra money, that does mean a lot,” Caminiti said.įor supporters of the plan, though, nothing less than the essence of New York is at stake. He says his options are either to swallow an additional $2,700 a year in fees to maintain his current half-hour drive or take as many as three buses that can take nearly two hours, including wait times. The fee is a particularly tough pill for civil servants, many of whom don’t have a choice where they’re assigned, said Paul Caminiti, a public school teacher who drives in from Staten Island. Suburban commuters are furious over the prospect of even costlier workday drives. Manhattan business owners are fretting about the impact on the local economy. Public school teachers are among those expected to plead for an exemption at a series of public hearings that kick off Thursday. But the lofty plan, which is aiming for a summer launch, still faces roadblocks and questions about whether it’s worth it.