So last time we talked about all the problems with Traffic & Transportation but we never got around to what to do about them. Now we’re going to face that problem. We may not solve it, or even any part of it, but we’re going to lay out reasonable, logical possibilities that will attack real problems and present solutions that might have some chance of success.
So, the first thing we’re going to do is throw out Congestion Pricing, the dumbest most non-functional idea of the twenty first century, which will set many a politician’s hair on fire. Why? Because they all see it as a source of money for all the programs they want to push but have no way to finance.
Congestion Pricing is not just dumb, it’s disastrous. By raising the cost of every vehicle trip that enters mid-Manhattan, the city raises the cost of doing almost all business in what is already one of the costliest places to do business in the world. Cabs, the delivery of goods, everything will cost more, making every business in Manhattan less competitive because all costs are eventually passed on to the consumer. That’s bad business. Those who are fighting for Congestion Pricing claim that it will raise money for much needed projects and get rid of mid-town congestion. That’s a flat out lie, and if you look at it logically you will see that the concept cannot possibly work because if enough cars enter the zone to make it financially viable, the traffic will continue to be a problem and if it keeps cars out of mid-town it won’t raise any money. So much for the dumb and the lazy!
The first problem that must be faced in order to ease congestion in a functional manner is how, in the midst of burgeoning bike lanes, restaurant pergolas, invading mini parks and double parked delivery trucks, we leave enough functioning traffic lanes to facilitate the vehicular flow and how do we do it in such a way that it will encourage drivers and the rest of us to cooperate.
Driving into Manhattan is an expensive and often inconvenient proposition. What we want is to reduce a percentage of the current commuters by cost effective, convenience goaled panning. That means making things cheaper not more expensive but it also means making things easier for drivers to get into Manhattan destinations without driving all the way.
As I mentioned in the earlier piece there are any number of rail lines that come into the city from the surrounding territories, but the nature of rail travel is its inflexibility. The trains can only pick up passengers where we have built tracks, Sure we should add to our rail availability but to take advantage of most commuter rail systems we have to make them convenient to local auto travel. Most people don’t live at or near a train station. That means adding parking at every station along the lines is a significant accomplishment that will require the cooperation of every small town in Northern New Jersey, Westchester, Long Island and Connecticut. And that will never take up all the slack so there are other parking facilities that must be added to the plan. I’m talking about huge municipal facilities along the entrances to the island of Manhattan that will not only park commuter cars but also those resident cars that are currently taking up one or two lanes on every street in the city. Yes, the biggest traffic problem in NYC has always been free parking on the streets. It is the main cause of traffic congestion and we will never beat the problem until that is solved. But first let’s look at municipal parking, a logical yet all but ignored solution to much of our parking problems. This is vitally important because the traffic problem isn’t about too many cars driving on the streets; the problem is about too many cars parked on the streets. But there isn’t a politician on the planet that has the guts to tell hundreds of thousands of voters that they have to get rid of their cars. If you want to get them off the streets you have to park them somewhere else. That “somewhere else” is municipal parking plus a return to the edict that every building built in the city must provide a certain volume of parking spaces, minimally equal to the number of apartments it contains.
So the question is where do you put these municipal parking facilities and how do you make them affordable?
First, where do we put them? There are still large parcels of land in this city that would make great parking facilities. Easily condemnable buildings currently occupy some of them, but others are just vacant land. The problem with pretty much all of them is simply the real estate industry and the greedy billionaires that run it. They see every piece of land in the state as a potential profit making opportunity and they will fight to keep it that way. There are sites in the northwestern part of Manhattan that could be extended out into the Hudson River that would be perfect for huge garages. Riker’s Island on the east side, what’s left of Hudson Yards and parts of Hudson County, NJ could also be distinct possibilities. And we’re not just talking parking. Each facility could also be home to service businesses like those found in every terminal in the city, businesses that would allay the cost of construction and continuing maintenance. Each garage would be served by mini bus services that would go directly to various heavily trafficked destinations throughout the city.
Now I know I mentioned street parking and that s always sure to cause an uproar. The fact is, street parking is the major cause of congestion in the city and the banning of most street parking would almost immediately induce a free flow of vehicles on our streets. Sure there must be a certain amount of emergency parking but getting it off the main thoroughfares is essential.
I did a survey of one crosstown street on the upper west side. It had 34 legal parking spaces. Of those spaces 20 or 21 moved only for alternate side cleaning during the week and occasionally on weekends, primarily in the summer. That means that two thirds of the cars parked on the target street were only used for weekend trips. There was no reason for them to be parked on the street. They could be parked anywhere and still fulfill their function. They could be parked in a municipal garage at a reduced rate and this would add greatly to the mobility of the city.
If this is such a logical approach to the traffic problem why has it never been tried? Two reasons. First because free street parking exists, and New Yorkers have an attitude about everything they like that already exists. It seems to automatically become a “right.” And second, those politicians whose job it is to tell the citizens that free parking is not a right just don’t have the balls to do it. So it seems it will take a great upheaval, along with a giant change of heart by the pols for this to happen.
But if it does and if we get a majority of the parked cars off the streets we will still have to get rid of the pergolas adjust the bike lanes, move the mini-parks and deal with double-parked trucks. I understand that the restaurant business was in desperate trouble during the pandemic but that is over. Restaurants on the Upper West Side were jammed this weekend with long lines outside each one. It is time for the pergolas to go; unfortunately there are fools like our departing mayor who want to make them permanent. Yes, the pergolas have increased the seating capacity of all restaurants without increasing their rent but the restaurants will be fine without them once the pandemic slows, but the same can’t be said for the streets as long as they reside in them.
The final element is double-parked delivery trucks. Just getting the parked cars and pergolas off the streets will eliminate a great part of that problem. This would allow delivery rucks to park curbside leaving plenty of lanes for moving traffic. Unfortunately New York was not designed with Chicago’s alley system so there will always be a problem with getting goods to their destination.
There are ways to do this. But the leaders have to decide that there is enough payback in traffic free streets to invite the cost and inconvenience that it will take to get them.