NYC Cuts Traffic-Plan Fee for Trucks Meeting EPA Rule
By Dan Leone, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the June 18 print edition of Transport Topics.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a change in his congestion pricing proposal late last week, saying trucks that meet federal engine emission standards would be charged $7 to enter Manhattan during peak times, rather than $21.
The proposal, which would need approval by the New York State Legislature, would charge a flat fee to trucks weighing more than 7,000 pounds entering Manhattan below 86th Street between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays (4-30, p. 5). Cars would be charged $8, but taxis, limousines and emergency vehicles would be exempt.
“All new trucks that register with our program and meet [2007] federal guidelines would qualify for a 66% discount on congestion pricing fees, Bloomberg said at a June 13 press conference.
Alternatively, if approved technology reduces emissions of an older truck by 85%, that vehicle also would qualify for the discount, said Bloomberg. He added he would seek federal and state funding assistance for truckers.
The congestion pricing proposal has the backing of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D). A bill introduced June 7 in the state Legislature would give Bloomberg the authority to implement a three-year pilot program based on his proposal.
“I am in favor of embracing a model relating to congestion pricing,” Spitzer said at a June 7 press conference with Bloomberg and U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.
If his proposal is approved, the mayor would decide whether the project would continue after three years, according to the bill.
In a joint committee hearing before the state Assembly on June 8, Bloomberg touted the plan as a way to stop trucks from passing through Brooklyn and Manhattan to bypass the one-way toll on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
“Right now, because of the tolls on the Verrazano Bridge, trucks come one way to avoid it and come back through Manhattan to avoid it. It’s a disgrace,” he said.
However, the heads of two state trucking associations said the proposal would hurt both truckers and local consumers.
“This really becomes almost a truck-only tax,” said William Joyce Jr., president of the New York State Motor Truck Association.
He said Bloomberg’s plan to offer discounted congestion fees for trucks with retrofits or 2007 engines “still imposes an economic burden on the trucking industry. And how many people will really have ’07 engines or retrofits?”
The plan claims that fee would provide an incentive for truckers to make deliveries to Manhattan during off-peak hours, but Joyce said he was skeptical businesses would be willing to accommodate such a change.
“A lot of these deliveries are to relatively small businesses that have [only] daytime hours,” Joyce said.
Mike Riley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut, said that the plan would only increase prices for Manhattan customers.
Truckers hauling into Manhattan will “pass through this additional cost of doing business to the people who need the freight,” Riley said.
After hearing about the plan to reduce fees, Riley said, “The people that pay for [the congestion fee] are the people who buy the freight. That’s nice that [Bloomberg is] charging his own people less.”
Meanwhile, DOT’s Peters said earlier this month that New York has been selected as one of nine semifinalists for a portion of more than $1 billion in congestion-relief money.
“In the next few weeks, we will work with New York and the other eight cities to further evaluate their traffic-fighting plans to see if they reduce traffic now — not years from now,” Peters said.
DOT would announce the recipients “in early August,” she added, “and it would be very difficult for us to make [New York City] a finalist if we didn’t know that this project could go forward.”
The state Legislature is scheduled to adjourn on June 21, and a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D), said time for the lawmakers to consider the proposal is running out.
This “was obviously seen as a very complex issue and one that would require some time to get our arms around,” said Silver spokesman Skip Carrier.
Spitzer said if lawmakers do not approve the legislation by the end of the session, they still could return later this summer to consider the measure.
This story appears in the June 18 print edition of Transport Topics.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a change in his congestion pricing proposal late last week, saying trucks that meet federal engine emission standards would be charged $7 to enter Manhattan during peak times, rather than $21.
The proposal, which would need approval by the New York State Legislature, would charge a flat fee to trucks weighing more than 7,000 pounds entering Manhattan below 86th Street between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays (4-30, p. 5). Cars would be charged $8, but taxis, limousines and emergency vehicles would be exempt.
“All new trucks that register with our program and meet [2007] federal guidelines would qualify for a 66% discount on congestion pricing fees, Bloomberg said at a June 13 press conference.
Alternatively, if approved technology reduces emissions of an older truck by 85%, that vehicle also would qualify for the discount, said Bloomberg. He added he would seek federal and state funding assistance for truckers.
The congestion pricing proposal has the backing of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D). A bill introduced June 7 in the state Legislature would give Bloomberg the authority to implement a three-year pilot program based on his proposal.
“I am in favor of embracing a model relating to congestion pricing,” Spitzer said at a June 7 press conference with Bloomberg and U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.
If his proposal is approved, the mayor would decide whether the project would continue after three years, according to the bill.
In a joint committee hearing before the state Assembly on June 8, Bloomberg touted the plan as a way to stop trucks from passing through Brooklyn and Manhattan to bypass the one-way toll on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
“Right now, because of the tolls on the Verrazano Bridge, trucks come one way to avoid it and come back through Manhattan to avoid it. It’s a disgrace,” he said.
However, the heads of two state trucking associations said the proposal would hurt both truckers and local consumers.
“This really becomes almost a truck-only tax,” said William Joyce Jr., president of the New York State Motor Truck Association.
He said Bloomberg’s plan to offer discounted congestion fees for trucks with retrofits or 2007 engines “still imposes an economic burden on the trucking industry. And how many people will really have ’07 engines or retrofits?”
The plan claims that fee would provide an incentive for truckers to make deliveries to Manhattan during off-peak hours, but Joyce said he was skeptical businesses would be willing to accommodate such a change.
“A lot of these deliveries are to relatively small businesses that have [only] daytime hours,” Joyce said.
Mike Riley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut, said that the plan would only increase prices for Manhattan customers.
Truckers hauling into Manhattan will “pass through this additional cost of doing business to the people who need the freight,” Riley said.
After hearing about the plan to reduce fees, Riley said, “The people that pay for [the congestion fee] are the people who buy the freight. That’s nice that [Bloomberg is] charging his own people less.”
Meanwhile, DOT’s Peters said earlier this month that New York has been selected as one of nine semifinalists for a portion of more than $1 billion in congestion-relief money.
“In the next few weeks, we will work with New York and the other eight cities to further evaluate their traffic-fighting plans to see if they reduce traffic now — not years from now,” Peters said.
DOT would announce the recipients “in early August,” she added, “and it would be very difficult for us to make [New York City] a finalist if we didn’t know that this project could go forward.”
The state Legislature is scheduled to adjourn on June 21, and a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D), said time for the lawmakers to consider the proposal is running out.
This “was obviously seen as a very complex issue and one that would require some time to get our arms around,” said Silver spokesman Skip Carrier.
Spitzer said if lawmakers do not approve the legislation by the end of the session, they still could return later this summer to consider the measure.
