The impact of congestion pricing on New York? These 3 cities offer a glimpse.

New York is poised to become the first U.S. city to charge motorists for entering its busiest areas, but follows three cities abroad where such toll systems have become a way of life.

London, Stockholm and Singapore all went ahead with congestion pricing, while in New York it was just an idea, one that festered for years amid opposition from many commuters and elected officials.

The three cities have become real testing grounds for congestion pricing. In both cases, the policy has proven effective in helping to reduce traffic, ease congestion and reduce pollution from vehicle emissions, while raising millions of dollars for state coffers. It has also encouraged more alternatives to driving, including new buses and cycle lanes.

But implementing congestion pricing has not been easy and the rates, which have risen over the years, continue to draw complaints from motorists as well as community and business leaders. The experiences of these cities now offer a glimpse of the challenges that await New York.

Officials in Stockholm, like their counterparts in New York, initially faced public outcry over the city’s toll system, but found that public opinion changed after many drivers became accustomed to it.

Yet the congestion charge did not just cause traffic to disappear. Although London’s fares initially deterred some drivers, gridlock eventually returned to the city, partly due to an influx of Ubers and other rideshare vehicles and vans.

Despite setbacks, all three cities have stuck with congestion charges (Singapore has had charges since the mid-1970s) and continue to refine their systems as traffic patterns change and new challenges arise.

“New York should carefully study these other cities,” said Samuel I. Schwartz, a former city transportation commissioner and longtime advocate of congestion pricing. “We can learn a lot from them in terms of public support, technology and how we can improve congestion pricing in the future.”

When Stockholm tried to introduce a congestion tax in the city center in 2006, many residents and business leaders protested that it would punish drivers and force the closure of shops.

But some critics came around later when they saw that congestion pricing had helped unravel the streets, city officials said. Traffic fell from about 450,000 vehicles per day in 2006 to about 350,000 vehicles per day in 2006, a decline of 22 percent.

The congestion tax was made permanent in 2007 after voters approved it in a referendum.

Stockholm uses a system of overhead gantries and cameras that automatically register vehicles by recording images of their license plates every time they pass by a vehicle. pay station on weekdays. Charges apply for vehicles vary by time of day, with the highest during rush hour, but also during high and low season. Nights and weekends are free.

There is a limit of $12.90 per vehicle per day peak seasonand $10.03 during the low season.

“People don’t like traffic lights or speed limits, but they accept it as part of the urban transport system – the same goes for congestion charges,” says Jonas Eliasson, director of transport accessibility at the Swedish Transport Administration.

The congestion tax, which increased in 2016 and again in 2016 2020has raised millions of dollars to build roads and highways, expand the subway system and make other investments in public transportation, city officials said.

The initial reduction in traffic has also held up over time, says Maria Borjesson, a professor at the Swedish National Research Institute for Road and Transport. “Most major cities would benefit from congestion pricing, but it’s difficult to get people on board,” she said.

London: Congestion has returned

London introduced a traffic jam zone in 2003 and quickly saw an improvement in the streets. According to city officials, the number of vehicles entering the zone fell 18 percent in a year.

Traffic delays were reduced by 30 percent and average vehicle speed increased from 14.8 kilometers per hour to 16 kilometers per hour. Air quality also improved as a result of lower traffic volumes, with a 12 percent reduction in nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions from vehicles in the zone.

But the early success was eroded in later years as traffic returned. The streets became clogged with taxis, Ubers and other cabs and vans carrying more and more packages, while online shopping boomed. New bus and cycle lanes also took up road space from cars.

That was the case in 2016 it is widely reported that traveling in London lasted longer than in the horse-and-carriage era. Last year, a report commissioned by the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, concluded that traffic congestion had risen to pre-pandemic levels, leading to increased congestion and air pollution.

Public support has also waned somewhat as congestion charges have steadily risen. London registers vehicles entering the traffic jam zone by taking photos of license plates.

Drivers pay a flat $18.95 a day for driving in the traffic jam zone on weekdays and part of the weekend, no matter how often they enter and exit. That’s triple $6.32 fee charged when the program started.

An expansion of the congestion zone in 2007 was later scrapped despite public opposition.

London’s experience shows that congestion charges are not a panacea, says David Metz, honorary professor at the Center for Transport Studies at University College London. By reducing traffic and delays, he said, it created more favorable road conditions that in turn attracted motorists “so from this perspective, congestion is essentially self-regulating.”

“In an affluent city like London, with many business users, you would need a very high charge to reduce traffic congestion in the long term,” said Professor Metz.

Singapore has had congestion charges since the 1970s, but it has been a learning process. The city has continually refined and modernized its toll system over the years to make it more flexible and efficient.

Currently, vehicles equipped with electronic units that record fees are charged as they pass under a network of nearly 80 gantries, concentrated in the main business district and along major highways.

Fares vary based on road and time of day and are adjusted periodically in response to traffic conditions, going up when there is congestion and down when there is not. Cost now range from 37 cents to $4.49, with no charges at all outside traffic times and on Sundays and public holidays.

In recent decades, congestion pricing has helped keep traffic flowing while maintaining driving speeds on streets and highways, even as a significant increase in car ownership brought more cars to the city in 2018, said Walter Theseira, an associate professor of economics at Singapore University or Social. Sciences.

But congestion pricing alone has not achieved that, he added, and has been used alongside other measures including a quota system for private vehicles that requires potential car owners to bid on one of a limited number of so-called certificates of entitlement before buying a car. .

The city’s congestion pricing system continues to evolve, replacing physical portals with one satellite-based system. The new technology could allow Singapore to charge drivers in more ways in the future – although there are no plans to do so at the moment – ​​including based on the actual distance they travel or in areas not covered by traffic. portals are covered.

By comparison, New York’s toll system, which is still in the works and simply charges a flat rate to enter and exit the congestion zone, still has a long way to go.

But “even though that system is quite primitive by today’s standards, it is much, much better than doing nothing at all,” Professor Theseira said.