New York City, after several decades of consideration, false starts, and lawsuits, implemented congestion pricing at the start of the year. Depending on the day and time, tolls for entering Manhattan peak at $9 for cars, more for trucks, and less for smaller vehicles like motorcycles. At the end of the first month, N.Y.C. experienced one million fewer cars idling in traffic and spewing carbon emissions. Thousands chose walking, cycling, buses, and subways over car trips. The $15 billion in revenue will modernize New York’s subway system. Although not a panacea, congestion pricing helps increase quality of life, reduce noise pollution, eliminate thousands of tons of carbon emissions, and decrease asthma and other health conditions aggravated by pollution.
N.Y. is the first U.S. city to try congestion pricing. This strategy regulates demand, making it possible to manage congestion without increasing supply, i.e., building more roads. Singapore pioneered congestion pricing in 1975, evolving it into a nuanced and flexible approach. In 2003, London started their city center toll system and expanded it recently.
Starting in 1974, Curitiba, Brazil, took a different approach, pursuing efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable public transportation. It created five structural axes dedicated only to express bi-articulated buses. By innovating a prepay system where riders pay to enter a platform at the level of a bus’s floor, it can load and unload almost 300 passengers in 30 seconds through five sets of double bus doors. It functions like an above-ground subway but without the cost or rigidity of a subway. Land-use policies were relaxed for several blocks on both sides of the axes to encourage taller buildings and greater density. A single fare that covers unlimited transfers allows a network of feeder buses to complement the high-speed axes routes. The result is a system where 60 percent of commuters ride the bus and where there are 40 percent fewer cars on city streets.
Paris is also transforming: Road space for cars in the heart of the city is steadily being eliminated. Car traffic has fallen 50-60 percent since 2000. Some vehicle lanes in major squares and intersections have been replaced with sidewalks, bike lanes, and greenery. Sixty-thousand street parking spaces have been or are being removed — 72 percent of the total. Since 2014, biking has exploded with a robust bike sharing program and the addition of 250 miles of bike lanes, many protected. The streets in front of schools have been closed to cars and the center of Paris is car-free one day a month.
What are the lessons for Santa Barbara? Consider reducing available parking and making it more expensive; increasing and improving biking and walking infrastructure and safety; and enhancing the speed, convenience, and frequency of public transportation. Many of these ideas are being worked on in the city. With greater housing density coming to Santa Barbara, our local Strong Town group is focusing on closing the gaps in bike infrastructure and the frequency and continuity of bus routes between La Cumbre and downtown, the two hubs of our city.
