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In This Issue:
– Tolls and Fares, Or Lessons in Playing Well With Others
– Three Old Brown States Are Pretty Green
– From My Mode To Your Mode
– Engage!
– Calendar
Tolls and Fares, Or Lessons in Playing Well With Others
As all the new vertical glass towers going up around Times Square indicate, being in Manhattan’s central core is worth a lot of money, and people are willing to pay for the privilege of visiting or doing business there.
Which is one factor to consider when the Port Authority contemplates, as several newspapers reported this week, whether to raise tolls on its bridges and tunnels, most of which lead directly or indirectly into Manhattan. These toll increases will fund a variety of critical projects, including a second train tunnel under the Hudson River, which in turn will keep the center city pleasant and prosperous.
But even if there is a need to raise tolls, it also makes sense for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to work in coordination and cooperation with the City of New York and its congestion pricing plan, as well as with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and NJ Transit, that run most of the region’s amazing system of tunnels, bridges, buses and trains.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the glittering jewel of Manhattan’s Central Business District is so precious that the privilege of entering in a private car requires an admission price.
Under Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing proposal, a driver who uses a Port Authority bridge or tunnel would get any difference between his or her fare subtracted from the congestion pricing charge. So, if the charge is set at $8 and a driver paid $5 to use the George Washington Bridge, he would only pay $3 as a congestion pricing charge.
This plan makes sense for a variety of practical and political reasons. Most importantly, it eliminates the incentive for drivers to practice “toll shopping” by driving around to find a cheaper way into Manhattan, but adding to the region’s overall levels of traffic congestion by doing so. However, the plan also gives the Port Authority an incentive to raise its fares to match the congestion pricing charge. It presumably would like to funnel increased revenues to its coffers rather than to New York City’s or the MTA’s.
Each institution has its own priorities: the Port Authority wants a toll hike to pay for a new commuter rail tunnel, the MTA wants a fare hike to pay for the 2nd Avenue subway and other projects, and New York City wants congestion pricing to make the streets safer, calmer, more efficient and more livable as well as to pay for additional transit infrastructure investments.
However, these priorities are all complementary. If the Port Authority raises tolls to help pay for new transit investments, the benefits to the entire region are just the same as if New York City collected those tolls for similar purposes. The genius of Mayor Bloomberg’s PLANYC 2030 is that it combined all these priority investments into a comprehensive package.
For this reason, if there is a priority in these matters, it has got to be congestion pricing. Charging cars for the costs they impose on society at large is a revolutionary and comprehensive tool that establishes an additional way to regulate traffic on city streets, a way that can be used in a complementary fashion with transit and bridge and tunnel users. It would level the playing field so we would no longer have drivers paying different prices for the same benefit.
While there is a logic to raising PA tolls to match those on the MTA crossings, without congestion pricing there will still be a two-class fare structure with some paying $9 for a round trip and some paying nothing at all. Congestion pricing would also give government the power to price entry into the center city in a way that makes sense for the health of the city and its citizens.
For these reasons, it makes sense for all three institutions to support congestion pricing and use their collective strength to help get it passed. Without it, it is difficult to see how tolls and fares will ever be able to meet the revenue needs of any agency.
People coming to Manhattan may end up paying more for the privilege, but whether they use a bridge, a subway or a regular city street, there should be ongoing coordination and cooperation from Manhattan’s principal movers and gatekeepers so the city and its citizens thrive.
– RPA Staff
Three Old Brown States Are Pretty Green
Growth rates, quality of life indices, and many other quantitative evaluations are rarely kind to the Northeast, with its aging infrastructure and struggling cities. Compared to the rest of the country, we often have the image of being old, cold and crowded. It was pleasing then to see all three states in our region come up in the top ten on a recent comprehensive ranking of “Green” states according to Forbes Magazine. The Green measurement was based, in essence, on how much or little each state pollutes and takes care of their environment.
Connecticut, New Jersey and New York placed 6th, 7th and 9th, respectively – pretty good for old Northeastern industrial states, which have traditionally symbolized mankind’s dirty contributions to water and air. The inclusion of New Jersey in the top 10 list of greenest states was a particular shocker to some, given that state’s longtime role as a symbol of industrial excess.
“When you think ‘green,’ you think New Jersey, right?,” read the first sentence of the Forbes story, setting up a “Man Bites Dog” lead: “OK, maybe not. But perhaps you should.”
The story goes on to say, “New Jersey makes the cut not because it excels in one particular area – though it has implemented strong policies to promote energy efficiency – but because it gets relatively high marks in just about every category,” which, Forbes notes, includes water management, toxic waste disposal and transportation. “In only five states did people travel fewer miles in their vehicles than they did in New Jersey in 2005, the most recent year for which government data is available.”
This last reason was a big factor in why Connecticut and New York made the list as well. With the Tri-state region’s reliance on mass transit, vehicle miles traveled per person is greatly reduced, even when state averages are taken into account.
One could argue about how the list was assembled, but there was an attempt to make some sort of objective ranking of a state’s contributions, or lack thereof. Factors in the rankings were the all-important tons of carbon emitted per capita, or “carbon footprint,” as well as “air quality, water quality, hazardous waste management, policy initiatives and energy consumption.”
One could criticize the inclusion of some of these factors. Why should “air quality” be included in Green measurements, given that it’s in part a measurement of intensity? New York City, for example, is always going to have more polluted air than, say, rural Vermont, but that doesn’t make Vermont greener. Someone has to be the center of industry and commerce.
But be that as it may, the rankings overall seemed a solid attempt to put some numbers behind the often squishy “Green” label.
Ranking up top were the more traditionally green states of Vermont, Oregon and Washington. And congratulations to them. These states really are a model in taking forward positive action on reducing pollutants to the environment and fighting global warming.
But the Tri-state region is catching up. The three states are participating in a regional pact that sets carbon emission levels and a trading system for the Northeastern states. There is Mayor Bloomberg’s much lauded PlaNYC, which takes the environmental lens to a range of issues in the city. In New Jersey, the state’s Board of Public Utilities recently adopted a requirement that utilities meet 6.5% of customers’ electricity needs from renewable energy sources by May 31, 2009 and 20% by 2020, which is one of the most aggressive requirements in the U.S. In Connecticut, Executive Order 15 recently established the state’s first Office of Responsible Growth, charged with coordinating the state’s growth and sustainability efforts.
All of which goes to show you don’t have to be rural, or on the West Coast, to be Green.
– Rebecca Hersh, deputy director, New Jersey office, RPA
From My Mode To Your Mode
Here in the tri-state region we often feel neglected because while we heavily utilize mass transit, the rest of the nation doesn’t.
Our usual response has been to wave our hands at federal authorities saying, “pay more attention to rail, pay more attention to buses,” with the word “pay” having both literal and figurative meanings. It’s an understandable response.
But perhaps a more effective and insightful response would be to ask top transportation officials to pay less attention to all modes of travel – water, rail, roads and air –and pay more attention to the results we seek from them.
Such an approach is called “mode neutral,” and it’s catching on in advanced transportation circles, even though it breaks with centuries of tradition.
After all, most of us are very tied to our “modes.” Transportation debates often end up as partisan food fights, with lovers of particular means of getting around hurling insults and accusations at each other in the form of selected statistics. At the federal level, funding streams and departments are divided by mode – rail, highway, aviation, for example, making it difficult to plan and finance truly multi-modal projects. And these funding streams are not mode neutral.
While Federal New Starts transit projects must meet stringent performance criteria related to performance, cost benefit, etc., federal funding for highways flows freely to state highway departments based on the number of road miles in the state. When was the last time a federal-funded highway got subjected to performance- or cost-effectiveness-based testing? As RPA’s Jeffrey Zupan speaks of in his recent study, “New Starts, New Directions” for the Eno Foundation, now “decisions on highway expansion projects are not required to be based on rigorous criteria.” That’s not the case with transit projects. Wouldn’t it make more sense to hold all transportation modes accountable to a set of performance criteria that support the goals we are seeking from our transportation program?
Late last year, Great Britain’s department of transportation released the voluminous “Eddington Transport Study.” It was a comprehensive evaluation of the country’s transportation needs and priorities. The study was led by Sir Rod Eddington, a recently knighted Australian who was once the head of British Airways. The four-volume report, which is available online at www.dft.gov.uk/about/strategy/eddingtonstudy, is an example of the United Kingdom’s recent spurt of research-based policy development, the excellent Stern report on climate change being another one.
The study attempts to address many questions about transportation policy, most too detailed to get into here. But the general way the Brits approach the topic is worth mentioning. Rather than dividing the report into, say, air, road, water and train travel, and then addressing what is right or wrong with each sector, they start the report with specific problems to be solved, and only then look at what particular mode or modes of travel would accomplish that.
“Different modes will be best placed to achieve different economic, social and environmental goals in different circumstances,” says the report in one typical passage. “Choice of mode should therefore be a second-order issue centred on the selection of the best solution and not a predetermined policy decision.”
In other words, the study attempts to be “modally agnostic,” to use a wonderful phrase from a new Brookings Institution report that cites the Eddington Study. “Transportation policy and program governance currently favors particular modes but is indifferent to substantive outcomes,” says the Brookings report, “A Blueprint for American Prosperity.” “We propose the reverse: a single minded focus on achieving the declared national priorities and indifference to the modal means of achieving them.”
This is one of the goals for transportation policy that RPA is pursuing though its America 2050 initiative, which is developing recommendations for the next transportation bill, likely to be reauthorized in 2009. A collection of policy papers for transportation were recently published in RPA’s summary of “The National Roundtable on Surface Transportation,” which can be downloaded from the America 2050 website here.
The point of all this is to tie transportation spending, whether by local, state or federal government, to an actual problem to be solved, or types of places to be created. We shouldn’t be indiscriminately building stuff for the sake of adding to our infrastructure. A friend of mine who is smart about such things says it’s good to remember that Black & Decker isn’t in the business of selling drills. It’s in the business of selling holes.
We need to keep that anecdote in mind with transportation. Our job is to provide access to goods and services, and to create places around those means of access. And while most of us will always love one “mode” more than another, perhaps it’s time to leave our modes behind, at least when crafting policy.
– Alex Marshall, Editor, Spotlight on the Region
Engage!
If you are tired of public hearings where outraged citizens stand at a microphone and rant at a dais of yawning officials, you are not alone. Apparently the folks on the other side aren't happy either, so they are doing something about it.
For the first time in a long time, the MTA is taking a different approach to seeking public input about proposed fare and toll increases by offering an interactive workshop in addition to the traditional public hearing format.
Modeled after successful "town hall" - style events such as Listening to the City, which drew 5,000 participants to discuss post-9/11 plans for Lower Manhattan, the MTA's public engagement workshop aims to seek input from riders who want a more informed, meaningful process about fare options and rebuilding priorities for the future. The workshop will lay out the challenges the agency faces and encourage a healthy discussion of options and issues.
The event is being co-sponsored by the Empire State Transportation Alliance, a coalition of business, labor, environmental and civic groups dedicated to seeing a robust transportation investment program to sustain New York's economic growth and environmental quality.
If you want to take part in this new style of public input, sign up now and show the MTA there is interest in taking a new approach. Participation is free, but space is limited to 300 seats and pre-registration required. Here's how to register:
Saturday, November 17, 2007
10:00 am – 1:30 pm (registration begins at 9:30 am)
New York University – Kimmel Center KC Rosenthal Pavilion,
10th Floor
60 Washington Square South New York, NY 10012
EVENT REGISTRATION
Online: www.mta.info/workshop/
Phone: 212-878-7483
- Neysa Pranger, Director of Public Affairs
Questions or comments on what’s in this issue? Send them to the editor of Spotlight On The Region, Alex Marshall at alex@rpa.org
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November 1
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
New York City Traffic Mitigation Commission Public Hearing
NYC Tech Klitgord Auditorium, 285 Jay St, Brooklyn
November 1
6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
AIA Charette
AIA CFA
Anyone that is interested in participating should attend.
Contact Michael M. Samuelian at 212-801-3915 for more info.
November 1 and 2
Disasters: Recipes and Remedies
A Social Research conference at The New School, Keynote: Nicholas Scoppetta, NYC Fire Commission
Tishman Auditorium, The New School, 66 West 12th Street
Visit www.socres.org/disasters/agenda.htm for more info
November 2
9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
New Jersey American Planning Association (NJAPA) annual conference
Moderator: Vivian Baker, NJ Transit. Panelists:Robert Lane, Director of Design, RPA; Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, West Windsor Township; Kathleen Miller Prunty, Cranford Downtown Management Corporation
The Bloustein School at Rutgers, New Brunswick, NJ
Price varies. Visit www.njapa.org for more info
November 5
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
New York City Traffic Mitigation Commission Public Hearing
Williamson Theater Center for the Arts, College of Staten Island, 200 Victory Blvd
November 5
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Preparing NYC for Energy and Climate Uncertainty
Daniel Lerch, Author of Post Carbon Cities: A Guidebook on Peak Oil and Global Warming for Local Governments
John Street Church, 44 John St, Lower Manhattan
No charge to attend, donations welcome. For more info visit www.beyondoilnyc.com
November 6
6 p.m.
New York is a City Best Enjoyed on Foot, Yet We Plan Our Streets for Cars
Jan Gehl, Architect of Green and Livable Streets
Presented by Upper West Side Streets Renaissance
Jewish Community Center of Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue at 76th Street
RSVP required: david@transalt.org. Free.
November 6
6:30 p.m.
When the Big Get Bigger: New York's Universities and Their Neighborhoods
Benjamin and Irma G. Weiss Research Building, Rockerfeller University, 1230 York Avenue
$12, $8 for MAS members and students. RSVP at 212-935-2075 or rsvp@mas.org
November 8
6:30 p.m.
Designing for Efficiency: Using Urban Design to Combat Global Warming
John Fregonese, Principal, John Fregonese Associates
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark
Free and Open to the Public, for more info contact Darius Sollohub at sollohub@njit.edu
November 9
7:30 a.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Communities, Connecting to Compete
This research and policy conference is jointly hosted by the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. and the Connecticut Regional Institute for the 21st Century. They keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Theodore Hershberg, Prof. of Public Policy and History and Director of the Center for Greater Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania
Northeast Utilities, 107 Selden Street, Berlin, CT
For more information go to www.cerc.com
November 13
8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Thinking Bigger: New York and Transportation in the Northeast Megaregion
Continental Breakfast and Registration from 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
New York University: Kimmel Center, Rosenthal Pavilion, 60 Washington Square South, 10th flr.
For more information: wagner.nyu.edu/rudincenter/files/thinkingBigger.pdf or contact 212-998-7545
November 14
8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
1000 Friends of Connecticut: First Annual Statewide Smart Growth Conference
Join a dynamic conversation about preserving, conserving and growing smart in Connecticut. The keynote address will be delivered by Lee Sobel, Real Estate Development and Finance Analyst in the US EPA's Development, Community and Environment Division.
Michael J. Adanti Student Center, Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent Street, New Haven, CT
For more info visit www.1000friends-ct.org
November 15
8:30a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Climate Change, Land Use and Transportation Planning
Dealing with global warming and traffic congestion through land use law reform
Yonkers Public Library Waterfront Branch, One Larkin Center, Yonkers, NY
Contact Ann Marie McCoy at amccoy@law.pace.edu for registration and more info
November 16
8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Vision Long Island's 6th Annual Smart Growth Summit
Melville Marriott, 1350 Walt Whitman Rd, Melville, NY.
More info at: www.visionlongisland.org
November 16
9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Preserving Community Character Conference
Learn how to define, enhance and protect the character of local communities
Yonkers Public Library Waterfront Branch, One Larkin Center, Yonkers, NY
$10, more info at: www.nyplanning.org
November 17
10:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
MTA Public Engagement Workshop on Fare and Toll Increases
NYU - Kimmel Center (Rosenthal Pavilion, 10th Floor), 60 Washington Square South
Free, but pre-registration required, RSVP at www.mta.info/workshop/ or call 212-878-7483
November 28
5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Annual Joint APA Transportation Committee/ITE Dinner
Rizwan M. Baig, P.E., PTP, Assistant Chief Traffic Engineer at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, will present the "PANYNJ Traffic Safety Improvement Program"
Riccardo's Restaurant, 21-01 24th Avenue, Astoria, Queens (718) 721 – 7777
February 15
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
The Annual Leadership in Transportation Awards
NYU Kimmel Center, Rosenthal Pavilion, 60 Washington Square South, NY, NY
For more information: www.nyu.edu/public.affairs/releases/detail/1434
February 29
NJF Redevelopment Forum 2008
Hyatt Hotel, New Brunswick
For more information: Tim Evans at timevans@njfuture.org or Jay Corbalis at jcorbalis@njfuture.org
April 18
Regional Plan Association's Regional Assembly 2008
Topic and details to follow
Waldorf=Astoria Hotel
For more information: (212) 253-2727
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