Congestion pricing: What is it and could it be coming to DC?

It’s been one of the most controversial stories in New York City: A toll for nearly every driver who goes to midtown or downtown Manhattan during peak hours.

New York is the first North American city to have congestion pricing. Stockholm, Singapore and London have it.

Taylor Reich is a transit expert who says he constructed a model to see if it would work and what it would look like in D.C. It was published in Greater Greater Washington.

There is no guarantee we’ll ever see it in D.C. and if we did, it would be years away. But the concept is pretty simple: If you charge drivers for coming into the busiest parts of the District, it has the benefit of possibly reducing traffic and generating revenue that could be reinvested in public transit.

"The impact with driving is that your trip might cost some money if you’re going somewhere in downtown D.C. but congestion would be a lot less. You’d get there much faster and that’s because congestion pricing or road pricing is really the only way to reduce congestion in the long term. That’s the only way to do it. If you widen the highways, you’re just going to get more people to start driving," Reich said.

New York is wrapping up its first ten days of this and while it’s still too early to tell the exact impact, there have been signs of success and some growing pains.

Successes include a 7.5% reduction in vehicle traffic in the busiest part of the city, according to data released by the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Travel times on certain bridges and tunnels have also fallen. Whether it’s because of the weather and time of year or the tolls remains to fully be seen.

There have also been reports of new parking nightmares on the outskirts of the Manhattan zone as commuters park in residential neighborhoods to avoid the tolls.

Yonah Freemark is a transportation policy expert with the D.C.-based Urban Institute.

He says congestion pricing could work in D.C. but whether or not the politics behind making it happen is another question.

"In theory, if Washington wanted to establish a congestion relief zone of a certain area in the central business district or elsewhere, then yes, it’s technology feasible. The city could do it. Whether or not the city has the political support to do it I think is a different question," Freemark said.

So how do people in New York feel about this?

FOX 5 D.C. spoke with FOX 5 New York Reporter Jessica Formoso, who’s covered this story.

She says the concerns and frustration among detractors is still there and there have certainly been growing pains. While there was a 7.5% reduction in the first week, Formoso says she's noticed additional cars on the road for week two while stressing there is less congestion.

Formoso also pointed to reports that New Jersey commuters may be relying more on public transit because they already face high tolls on bridges and tunnels.

It’s still too early to tell if this is working and Formoso reports that ultimately, commuters will move based on the impact to their wallets.

"It really comes down to doing the math. Is it worth it? Is public transportation reliable enough to say whether I’m going or not? And I think that’s what we really have to wait to see, to see really the numbers in the coming weeks to see if it’s really working or not," Formoso said.

As for whether this could come to D.C. or not, the District commissioned a study on this before the pandemic but the findings have never been made public.

One year ago, City Administrator Kevin Donahue testified that he was concerned congestion pricing would be a barrier for people to come downtown, which D.C. does not need, adding this should not be a debate in D.C., and he saw a "0%" chance it happens.

In a statement to FOX 5, District Department of Transportation Director Sharon Kershbaum said, DDOT is committed to a safe transit network and continues working to reduce congestion for all, but "as residents and businesses work to recover from the pandemic, imposing a congestion tax would harm our collective recovery."

NewsWashington, D.C.