Congestion Pricing 5-Way
The radio today told me that there’s going to be no way around paying to cross the East River. Congestion Pricing - in one form or another - is coming. The five options are:
- $8 congestion pricing fee proposed by Bloomberg, with an 86th Street upper terminus
- Lowering the terminus to 60th Street, same charge
- $4 toll each way on East River bridges
- Charges based on the last number of your license plate
- Raise parking fees and taxi surcharge
Numbers 1 and 2 seem the most workable, number 3 the most penalty-laden, number 4 just plain lame, and number 5 seems too unrealistic.
If they decided to charge a toll on the East River bridges, I wonder how they would fit toll plazas into things - where would they go? That kind of construction would be pretty awful for Queens on the 59th street bridge. How would that disrupt the neighborhood?
It will be interesting to see what happens, what the final decision is. One needs to be made by end of the month.
