New York Looks at London’s Traffic Tolls

British capital now charges drivers who enter city’s center. A Manhattan gridlock expert thinks fees may also work at home.

NEW YORK – The problem with city traffic is that it refuses to discriminate: The rich and beautiful get ensnarled along with ordinary Joes. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a super exclusive high-speed lane so Donald Trump would never be late for his important meetings?

Gridlock Sam to the rescue.

Letting swells like The Donald pay their way out of traffic jams would, of course, be only a byproduct of the system that Manhattan traffic consultant Sam Schwartz, a.k.a. Gridlock Sam, is constantly turning over in his mind. The main goal is reducing overall congestion to save time, money and people’s lungs.

All of this is highly encouraging to Schwartz, a private consultant who started as a taxi driver and spent more than 20 years as a traffic engineer and later top deputy commissioner of the New York City Transportation Department. Schwartz and a fellow city engineer coined the term “gridlock.”

Schwartz, however, is thinking much bigger than just East River tolls. He would like to see a comprehensive “congestion-pricing” system throughout southern Manhattan that would charge people based on when and where they drive. The wider arteries along the rivers can accommodate more traffic, so they would cost less; narrower, heavily traveled streets would cost more, especially at peak times of day.

Some combination of cameras, sensors and computers could monitor compliance.

“You want to see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza from your car?” said Schwartz. “Fine. It’ll cost you $25 to drive that one black as slowly as you want.”

This leads to the idea of “platinum” lanes for such well-heeled motorist as Trump. If you set the fees high enough, the traffic clears out magically, Schwartz said. The city could even offer money-back guarantees if it takes more than, say, 10 minutes to cross the island on a designated street.

The Trump example is fun, but Schwartz said congestion pricing isn’t just fat-cat friendly; it also has its Robin Hood aspects. The people in cars in Manhattan during the daytime earn, on average, $15,000 more than the folks on the subway, Schwartz says. But the people on the roads after midnight tend to be poorer workers stuck on the late shift. In those low-traffic hours, the bridges, tunnels and streets should be free, he said.

By Thomas S. Mulligan for the LA times

June 1, 2003