Decongesting New York

No, pedestrian walkways are not synonymous with crosswalks or sidewalks. "Walkway" can refer to a host of different concepts. One definition is a dedicated path specifically designed to keep pedestrians moving since sidewalks are used for all sorts of purposes - walkway, window-browsing point, meeting space, vendor space, bicycle parking space, newstand and newspaper box location, etc. Look at what a mess Times Square and Chinatown are with tourists stopping every few feet to look at something else. Then there are long, uninterrupted footpaths like the Hudson River footpath/bikepath on the west side.

They could also be talking about skybridges like over the FDR, although I hope not.

Congestion pricing is actually a hot topic in the EU. I just came from the European Transport Conference in Strasbourg and attended *about* 30 papers on the subject ranging from attitudes, acceptance, transit projects arising from, technologies, demand for, pricing signals, etc. There are many forms of such pricing but the one considered best (in the long run) is the nation-wide plan contemplated by the Secretary for Transport (UK) Alistair Darling. As I understand it, this proposal covers every road and every mile and every time, but with fees ranging from ~5 cents/mile in rural areas to ~$2.25/mile in central London during rush hour. That idea often includes removing the fuel tax (the debate is not closed).

The Economic math behind this extends back to the 1920’s; traffic engineers have become gradually cognizant and now it is universally agreed (amongst traffic engineers) that using pricing signals is the ONLY way to manage congestion. The car is simply too appealing, too useful, too comfortable, too convenient, and too cheap. The ONLY thing that reduces traffic is a recession (Anthony Downs, Still Stuck in Traffic, 2004); and building more roads (which still needs doing) only invites more vehicles.

Conclusion? Road pricing by any name you prefer is going to happen. It will likely happen on a regional-national-scale throughout most of Europe (~2010-2020) before is happens on a broad regional-state-national scale in the North America (2015-2025). Whatever NY does in the near term, if it does it, will be local and likely a noisy and painful affair. It will not get easy and well entrenched until wireless metering and collection using positioning technology is ready for this application. DSRC technology (e.g. EZPass) can’t cut the full-region “road-use-charge” payment x distance x time of day x vehicle class type of scheme to make this fair, although it can be used to meter main arteries.