By Tom Robino
A report is circulating that the New York City Council is working with a transportation consultant with the goal of drafting legislation aimed at discouraging cruising for rides by Uber and Lyft drivers in Manhattan’s central business district.
Crain’s New York Business cites unnamed sources who say respected transportation analyst Charles Komanoff has been drafting a study in concert with City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. The result would an outline of the most effective way to control so-called trawling – searching for customers under 96th Street as they wait to be assigned a pickup. The aim is to cut down on traffic congestion.
“Komanoff, a longtime advocate for congestion pricing, testified before the council a year ago on ways to cut congestion, and he suggested a per-minute fee—or “time-based surcharges”—on Uber and Lyft rides within the central business district and on cruising. At that time, he was working as a consultant for a taxi company,” Crain’s reported. In fact, he went to work on ways to limit congestion in the central business district.”
Komanoff was “a prime mover in the campaign that passed a congestion pricing plan for New York City, both as creator of the spreadsheet model used by state government and transit advocates to evaluate different toll plans, and as proponent of balancing transit investment with traffic-pricing. He also directs the Carbon Tax Center, a clearinghouse for information, research and advocacy on behalf of robust and transparent carbon-emissions pricing to address the climate crisis. A math-and-economics graduate of Harvard and father of two grown sons, Komanoff lives with his wife in lower Manhattan,” according to his web site.
Traffic congestion is no mere annoyance. As DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg noted in a report several months ago, “Our roadways are more congested than ever. The number of cars entering Manhattan’s central business district continued to drop, but empty for-hire vehicles (FHVs) circling the area brought no relief from congestion. Meanwhile, vehicle registrations Citywide have increased, while freight traffic and home deliveries also continued to rise.”
It has also been the topic of wide discussion. According to a recent piece On Curbed New York, “You’re not imagining it: New York City’s streets are more congested, and slow-moving, than ever. That’s one of the results of the NYC Department of Transportation’s latest mobility survey, which looked at how New Yorkers are getting around the city—on foot, public transit, in cars, and more.
“One big takeaway: It’s taking longer than ever to get around Manhattan,” Curbed New York added. “Both citywide bus speeds and the average travel speed within the borough’s central business district (the area south of 60th Street) are the slowest they’ve been in decades Buses average 7.58 miles per hour—it was 8 miles per hour in 1990—while the travel speed in Manhattan is now just over 7 miles per hour, down from 9 miles per hour in 1990. (It’s even worse in the “Midtown Core,” where speeds average a paltry 4.9 miles per hour.)”
