Submitted by Gregg R., Apr 15, 2007 21:05

A congestion tax is an ill-conceived solution to a problem that is caused by a myriad of issues. First of all, there are less cars coming into Manhattan today than in 2000 and MTA ridership has increased by 36% from 1995 to today, however we all agree that congestion is worsening. Therefore, logic would say that the causes of congestion extend beyond just the number of cars. One of the many causes is that we have less roadways in Manhattan due to the onslaught of construction. Everytime a new building is built, a lane of roadway is occupied by the developers. There are currently 30K new housing units and 12.5 million square feet of office space currently under construction. Second, and as a result of this new development, the number of businesses in Manhattan over the last 5 years has increased significantly. These businesses, including restaurants, require the delivery of goods. Therefore, the number of delivery trucks, including the increased number of garbage trucks, on the road are increasing. These trucks do not have parking spaces on the streets or buildings with enough loading dock spaces so they double park, furthing limiting the amount of road space. Third, there is not enough available parking. There are only 125,000 off-street parking spaces and 30,000 on street parking spaces in Manhattan. A reduction of almost 100,000 spaces over the last 5 years. This is important because cars need to get off the streets. The longer a car has to remain on the streets searching for a space, the same effect it has as having more cars utilizing the roadways. Just as it is the same effect as habing less cars on the road if a car has to spend on the road searching for a space.

London spent $400 million to install the congestion pricing equipment. Additionally, it costs over $200 million a year to operate and last year generated only $130 million in revenue, most of which were for fines.

Certainly, there are other alternatives to explore and implement before exhausting millions of dollars on such a risky and draconian concept.

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