New York wants to implement the first congestion charge United States vehicle, but the measure faces fierce oppositioneven by the drivers of the famous yellow taxis in the city.
The plan, similar to long-standing rates in London and Singapore, aims to improve air quality in the “Big Apple” by decongesting the congested streets of Manhattan.
Also seeks to raise essential revenue to modernize a dilapidated metro system used daily by some four million New Yorkers.
The measure, scheduled to enter into force next year, has been challenged in court, which highlights the difficulty of taxing drivers in a country where the car is king of transport.
The authorities insist that charging the fee will help the environment by reducing the pollution y It will make circulation more efficient in the hectic cityexpediting travel times.
“Congestion fees are a generational opportunity”said John McCarthy, spokesman for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
The plan seeks to charge drivers for driving below 60th Street on the island of Manhattan, an area that encompasses the Midtown and Wall Street business districts.
The MTA hasn’t set the rates yet, but It studies charging 23 dollars for transit during rush hour and 17 dollars in lesser traffic hours.
And that bothers many. Taxi driver Wein Chin is concerned that the fare, which drivers would pass on to customers, result in fewer trips.
The driver earns between $300 and $400 a week and is already having trouble paying off a $170,000 loan he owes on his driver’s license.
“I don’t know if I could survive, paying the mortgage and supporting a family”the 55-year-old man, who immigrated to the United States from Myanmar in 1987, told AFP.
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a union representing 21,000 taxi driverscalculates that this charge could mean for drivers a loss of income of $8,000 a year.
Its affiliates have taken to the streets in recent weeks to demand that they be exempted from charging the fee.
Union president Bhairavi Desai said the fee could spell a death sentence for some drivers already battered in recent years by a surge of Uber drivers and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There are not many ashes from which the phoenix can rise”he warned AFP.
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The authorities have proposed discounts to cater to low-income New Yorkers.
Some 700,000 vehicles enter the proposed toll zone every day, in which cars are traveling at an average of 11 kilometers per hour due to traffic jams, according to authorities.
MTA initiative aims to reduce daily traffic by 10% and therefore the emissions of carbon dioxide.
The authorities cite studies indicating that in central London emissions CO2 emissions decreased by 20% after the introduction of a similar rate in 2003.
“We know that vehicle pollution is one of the main causes of the climate crisis that harms both our planet and our health”said Tim Donaghy of the environmental organization Greenpeace.
“Moving away from the car and using public transportation more is a step in the right direction, and can create healthier, more people-centered cities,” he said.
This project has been years in the making in New York. The tycoon Michael Bloomberg proposed a toll in 2007, when he was mayor for the Democratic Party (2002-2017), but it was not until 2019 that local legislators finally reached an agreement.
The US federal government gave the green light to the proposal in June of this year. and the different local authorities committed to introducing the tax in the spring of 2024.
But the neighboring state of New Jersey responded by suing the government, alleging that the plan would place an unfair financial burden on those who have to drive to Manhattan for work.
That state also opposes its residents having to pay for the improvement of the New York subway system.
The MTA estimates that the new fares would generate 1 billion dollars annually for improvements to the transportation system.
The governor of the state of New York, Kathy Hochul, considered that the New Jersey lawsuit will not prevent the levy from being promoted.
“It is a complete victory for public transport, traffic and the environment”Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for the public transport advocacy group Riders Alliance, told AFP.
2023-08-07 19:57:00
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