November 21, 20223

Commissioner, Ydanis Rodriguez

Scudder Hall 307, 1014 Hawk Drive

New Paltz, NY 12561 

 

Dear Ydanis Rodriguez,

 

Hello, my name is Emma Bergsohn and I’m attending the State University of New York at New Paltz. I’m writing to you about my increasing concerns about New York City’s traffic. Mr. Rodriguez, I am aware of your great efforts to improve mass transit and sustainable transportation with increased bicycle lanes and buses, but these are not enough. It’s necessary for the safety of citizens to increase funds towards building better transportation infrastructure as well as increasing reliable and more affordable public transportation, and ultimately getting more vehicles off the city roads.

Traffic has been a major pollutant on Earth for years. According to the New York City Environmental Protection, motor vehicles annually contribute approximately “11% of the local fine particulate matter and 28% of the nitrogen oxide emissions”(Transportation emissions). These harmful vehicle emissions contribute to at least thousands of deaths and illnesses every year. Not only that, but traffic is harmful to the mental and physical health of residents living in areas with large congestion. By enforcing congestion fees, encouraging public transportation, and putting more money towards improving transportation infrastructure, we can limit the number of vehicles on the road, in turn improving air quality, pollution, and quality of life in New York. 

The most commonly understood way that traffic and congestion cause harm is through air quality. One of the largest contributors to death and disability on Earth is PM 2.5, which is a small particulate matter that has the ability to penetrate, irritate, and impair lung function(Hinsdale).  Even in small amounts, it can be harmful and deadly by causing DNA damage, cancer, heart disease, strokes and more (Hinsdale). This particulate matter is being released in excessive amounts every single day throughout the city, whether it’s from gasoline engines or burning diesel fuel from cars, trucks, buses, trains and subways. To make matters even worse, “those who live near highways are more susceptible to ultrafine particles” which are much smaller than 2.5 PM (Cuba). These cause an even greater risk for respiratory and severe damage. Clearly, we need to lower the number of harmful particles in New York City’s air.

To reduce these vehicle emissions, implementing congestion pricing as fast as possible is absolutely necessary. Congestion pricing is a fee charged to drivers entering highly congested city areas. According to Professor Micha Tomkiewicz, ”the hope is that drivers will not want to pay the fee, and will instead opt to commute via public transportation” (Tomkiewicz). By making driving more of a financial burden, it’ll naturally encourage more people to look towards other means of transport. It’s a controversial solution for many commuters, so it is very important to emphasize that it will only lead to improvements in transportation conditions. Additionally, revenue created from congestion pricing could go directly towards funding for expanding public transportation. Wiley Norvell, the communications director at Transportation Alternatives, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving New York City’s transportation, says New York City “can’t fund transit expansion” without congestion pricing(Tomkiewicz). Although improvement and expansion of transportation systems like subways and trains require a lot of money, by implementing congestion pricing, we can generate revenue, reduce emissions, and travel time all at once. 

In addition, congestion pricing has already been proven to work in multiple other cities, including London. In London, by implementing congestion pricing, there was a “30% average drop in congestion, 37% average increase in traffic speed, 20% reduction in fossil fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, [and a] 30% increase in bus readership during peak hours”(Tomkiewicz). Along with this, ”more than $360 million has been used toward expansion and enhancement of mass transit networks” (Tomkiewicz). Not only has it worked, but it has worked substantially well. New York City should be using this exact model right now. 

On the other hand, there are many commuters who are worried about the effects of congestion pricing, wondering whether or not this will hurt lower-income workers much more drastically than others. However, the vast majority of lower-income workers are already utilizing means of public transport significantly more than wealthier workers. A CSS study from 2017 reported that “only 2 percent of the cities working poor would potentially be subject to the congestion fee” (Ugljevarevic). Not to mention that commuters driving in Manhattan during rush hour already tend to be significantly wealthier. In short, even though it might seem the opposite, lower-income workers will be directly benefited.

As for the funds created by congestion fees, we could use them to improve the maintenance of our subways. A lot of people have a very negative connotation towards New York City subways. After all, they tend to be “covered in decades-old tile and layers of grit and grime, often with rusted-out infrastructure” (Sisson). Currently, the maintenance of subways in New York City is not up to par, especially when compared to other railway systems around the globe. For example, Stockholm has some of the most beautiful metro lines in the world. Walls are covered in public art which includes its natural and manmade beauty, and a maintenance plan helps keep the system clean and working (Sisson). Along with Stockholm, subway systems in Tokyo are described as “impeccably clean” (Rothschild). Staff members vacuum, restock, and sanitize all the different parts of the station, while in New York, cleanings are constantly left unfinished. In 2014 alone, there were over five hundred fires on subway tracks, and over three hundred of those were because of leftover piles of trash (Rothschild). New York City stations at the very least need maintenance goals in budget to keep subways clean. By doing so, not only will subways be safer and more healthy, but more people would be willing to use them. 

Further, another benefit to keeping subways clean and intact is that it would create more jobs. Although New York state’s unemployment rate has dropped one-third of what it was last year, it still “remains higher than the national average, according to unemployment data for September released by the state Department of Labor” (Lisa). Naturally, by requiring a higher standard of sanitation and maintenance in our subways, a much greater number of workers are needed to keep it that way.

In New York City, large amounts of traffic can cause a lot of auditory disturbances as well. In still traffic, loud engine noises, unregulated horn loudness, and the sirens of firetrucks, police cars, and ambulances lead to an extraordinarily uncomfortable living environment. Residents such as Craig Boruchov have been complaining about having to deal with such excessive noise all the time. Boruchov along with many others are fed up with the loudness and have even felt the need to leave the city just for some peace and quiet (Justine Re). If we can decrease traffic on city roads, residents will finally be able to have a less distressing working and living environment. Aside from this, driving in traffic congestion is already a major stressor for many drivers, leading to chronic stress as well as road rage, it furthers the risk of traffic accidents even more (Kumar). 

A lot of New York City’s problems can be tackled through the addition of congestion pricing. Traffic, which is one of New York City’s major pollutants, would be decreased significantly, causing extraordinarily harmful vehicular particulates like PM 2.5 to appear significantly less in our air. Alongside this, congestion pricing encourages drivers to take the train, which could cut carbon dioxide emissions significantly. With the revenue made from congestion pricing, we could use it to expand and maintain public transportation even more, in turn encouraging fewer people to drive. Furthermore, congestion fees wouldn’t harm the lower class of New York City either, as a significant majority of lower-income workers in New York City already commute through public transportation.  Commissioner Rodriguez, if you care about New York City’s environment, the air the residents and families breathe, and if you care to improve the infrastructure of our city, the best way to begin would be by implementing congestion pricing.

Works Cited

 

Cuba, Julianne, et al. “Harvard Study: Car Pollution in NYC Claims 1,400 Lives, Billions in Costs.” Streetsblog New York City, 8 June 2021, https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/06/08/harvard-study-car-pollution-in-nyc-claims-1400-lives-billions-in-costs

Dr. Vivek Kumar, E. “Stuck in Traffic Snarls? It Can Cause Higher Chronic Stress, Sleep Deprivation.” The Economic Times, 4 Feb. 2020, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/stuck-in-traffic-snarls-it-can-cause-higher-chronic-stress-sleep-deprivation/articleshow/73929300.cms?from=mdr

Frakt, Austin. “Stuck and Stressed: The Health Costs of Traffic.” The New York Times, 11 June 2021, www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/upshot/stuck-and-stressed-the-health-costs-of-traffic.html. NYC DOT – Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/bio-commissioner.shtml

Hinsdale, Jeremy. “Data Dive: NYC Traffic Trends, Street Safety and Public Health.” State of the Planet, 30 Sept. 2022, https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2022/09/27/nyc-traffic-street-safety-public-health 

Lisa, Kate. “New York Unemployment Rate Dips, Remains Above National Average.” Spectrum News 1 Central NY, 25 Oct. 2022, https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/politics/2022/10/25/ny-unemployment-rate-dips–remains-above-national-average

Re, Justine. “New Yorkers Suffer from Excessive Noise.” Spectrum News NY1, 22 July 2022,  https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2022/07/22/new-yorkers-suffer-from-excessive-noise

Rothschild, Mike. “The Difference Between the Subway Systems in These Two Cities Is Crazy.” ATTN:, 20 Feb. 2017, https://archive.attn.com/stories/15052/tokyo-vs-new-york-city-subways 

Sisson, Patrick. “What NYC’S Subway Can Learn From Tokyo, Stockholm, and Other Cities.” Curbed NY, 19 Sept. 2017,

https://ny.curbed.com/2017/9/19/16335068/nyc-subway-mta-state-of-emergency-solution 

Tomkiewicz, Micha. “Transportation.” Shaping the Future of New York, https://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/tomkiewiczs10/?page_id=1585

Transportation Emissions – DEP. https://www.nyc.gov/site/dep/environment/transportation-emissions.page

“What Is Congestion Pricing?” NRDC, www.nrdc.org/stories/what-is-congestion-pricing

Xing, Yu-Fei et al. “The impact of PM2.5 on the human respiratory system.” Journal of thoracic disease vol. 8,1 (2016): 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4740125/