By Michael V. Cusenza
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber indicated on Sunday that congestion pricing, implemented on Jan. 5, is already a hit.
“It’s been a great success,” Lieber said during an appearance on WABC-7’s “Up Close with Bill Ritter.” “I was at a dinner last night with a couple thousand people, and literally hundreds of people came up to me, talked to me about how much time they are saving in cabs, when they’re driving, and frankly, the benefits that they’re seeing just in terms of their employees being able to get to work much more quickly. We’re really happy with how it’s gone.”
Ritter asked Lieber how the MTA measures the success of the landmark program.
Photo Courtesy of Marc Hermann/MTA
The program was enacted earlier this month.
“[W]hat we’re seeing is like between 5 and 10 percent fewer vehicles entering what we call the congestion relief zone, south of 60th Street, every day. Speeds on the crosstown streets, hugely difficult, congested streets like Canal, 42nd Street, 57th Street, speeds have picked up. People are getting through the Holland Tunnel in half as much time as they were before. People are noticing that this is really changing the traffic pattern in New York,” Lieber answered.
The authority’s chairman and CEO later added, “Right now, for a long time, our buses in Midtown Manhattan were moving slower than walking, like less than 5 miles an hour. That’s not fair. People who are riding the bus have to be able to move faster than walking. And as a life-safety matter, that ambulances are stuck in traffic is a scandal. We have to do something about it, and we have. We’re making progress.”
