Open Plans Releases List of Demands for City Ahead of Congestion Pricing Implementation

NEW YORK — With a few months until congestion pricing is scheduled to take effect, Open Plans today released a list of 10 initiatives the Adams administration, Department of Transportation, and the MTA must put in place to take advantage of the many opportunities created by the program. 

Congestion pricing is projected to reduce the number of vehicles entering Manhattan at or below 60th Street (known as the central Central Business District, or CBD) by about 20%. With significantly fewer cars clogging the streets, NYC’s most heavily used areas and infrastructure will become safer, less polluted, and more navigable, efficient, orderly, and pleasant for pedestrians, cyclists, and mass transit users. 

Congestion pricing provides an unprecedented opportunity to improve when it comes to walkability, micromobility, and livability. Yet discussion of the program and how it will affect New York has so far been centered around impacts on drivers and what “sacrifices” the tri-state area and its residents will have to make for their own good. Now that congestion pricing is set to go into effect, it’s well past time to focus on the many positive outcomes it will bring for all New Yorkers as well as visitors to the city—that is, if City Hall, Albany, the MTA, and the DOT act. 

With some prominent political figures recently waffling (or doing an about-face) on congestion pricing, it’s more important than ever that city and state officials make the case for it—and that means taking action that will allow New Yorkers to enjoy the full benefits of reduced traffic in the CBD. Open Plans has put together a list of 10 achievable, common-sense initiatives that the City must put into place in order to ensure that we do not waste the once-in-a-generation opportunity that the long overdue program has yielded. 

“At its core, congestion pricing is not about cars; it’s about people,” said Sara Lind, Co-Executive Director of Open Plans. “It’s past time that our elected officials and policymakers start making sure that New Yorkers receive—and know about—the many benefits congestion pricing can and should facilitate, rather than just telling us to eat our vegetables because they’re good for us. Congestion pricing will free up space to ensure that we have a more liveable, enjoyable streetscape. With the clock ticking, all levels of government, especially the Adams administration, need to act fast so we don’t squander this golden opportunity to improve our city’s most transit-accessible neighborhoods.” 

1. Free First-week Rides
   Fares on all regular MTA buses and NYC ferries should be free for the first week of the congestion pricing program. Change is hard, but free rides can incentivize taking public transit and allow hesitant New Yorkers to test out commuting on public transportation, easing some of the anxiety and burden of learning a new routine.

2. Broadway Vision
   This large-scale project has already begun to reclaim and rebalance street space along Broadway. With even fewer cars on the road, New York should prioritize a swift completion of Broadway Vision, extending it north to Columbus Circle and making it more ambitious—turning Broadway into a people-first corridor with pedestrian and micromobility access only.

3. Fund “Get Congestion Pricing Right” Package

   More bus service, including free service, will encourage more use of public transit when traveling to, within, and from the CBD. That’s why we are joining State Sen. Michael Gianaris and Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani in calling for the funding of the $90 million “Get Congestion Pricing Right” package—recently included in the Assembly and Senate’s “one-house” budgets—which will increase bus service and create 15 additional free bus routes in the city. 

4. Transform Fifth Avenue
   Swiftly implement the Future of Fifth plan, from Bryant Park to Central Park, to prioritize pedestrians and public gathering; install bike amenities, wider sidewalks, public seating, trees, plantings, plazas, and sustainability measures.

5. Make Space for Students
   Streets around city schools are uniquely dangerous. The City should proactively designate School Streets throughout the CBD to provide safe areas for arrival and dismissal, outdoor learning, and recess—especially for schools that don’t have outdoor space.

6. Improve Bike Infrastructure

   Reduce the number of traffic lanes to install double-wide, two-way bike lanes on 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 8th, 9th and 11th Avenues both within the CBD and into and out of it to facilitate travel into the district. Install a separated bike lane on the Queensboro Bridge and expand bike lanes on the Brooklyn Bridge. Make existing crosstown bike lanes two-way and add additional two-way crosstown lanes at 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 50th, 59th and 72nd Streets.

7. Better Buses
   Install dedicated bus lanes on 1st, 2nd, 9th and 10th avenues, both within the CBD and into and out of it. Install bus lanes along all bridges and tunnels into and out of Manhattan (including New Jersey transit). Create busways on major arterials into the CBD such as Queens Boulevard and Northern Boulevard as well as on major crosstown streets like 23rd, 34th, and 42nd Streets.

8. Reclaim Space for Pedestrians
   Permanently pedestrianize destination corridors and districts that suffer from far too little space, such as the Financial District and the Theater District. Ninth Avenue’s successful sidewalk extensions should be replicated in other high-density areas, beginning with Canal Street and Houston Street. 

9. Reclaim Curbside Space
   Curb space should be prioritized for more productive and public uses than parking. Get bold about installing loading zones, green infrastructure, parklets, seating, bike corrals, trash containerization, and daylighting. 

10. Six-Minute Service
    New Yorkers who commute into the CBD need quick, consistent service. We echo Riders Alliance’s demands that Governor Hochul make a targeted investment of up to $300 million in the state budget to ensure no New Yorker waits longer than six minutes for their bus or train. Commuters deserve convenient transit, and delivering it will entice more and more New Yorkers to choose this option.