Jim Cameron’s columns on transportation issues in the CTMirror are lucid and informative, but his recent article advocating tolls on Connecticut’s I-95 as an addition to the recent congestion pricing implemented in Manhattan is off base.
Just because New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has added another toll to drive into Manhattan does not mean we should be paying one in Connecticut.
Anyone who has lived in Manhattan and owned a car, as I did for three years (and I parked on the street), knows that driving and parking is a nightmare. Thus, to decrease traffic, Governor Hochul decreed that those driving into parts of Manhattan, especially during rush hour, must pay another toll.
But this does not mean that forcing the citizens of Connecticut to pay a toll on I-95 is the logical next step. By Cameron’s own admission, only 11% of Connecticut residents who commute to Manhattan chose to drive. So why should those driving to Westchester County, Long Island or to Fairfield County have to pay more?
If anything, the congestion toll in Manhattan will decrease traffic on I-95, not increase it. The idea that Connecticut residents should pay a toll to relieve congestion in Manhattan is silly.
Besides, if you put tolls on I-95, drivers will use the Post Road, the Merritt Parkway and the Wilbur Cross Parkway to avoid them.
Cameron also asserts:
But that choice has huge implications on others when your car adds to the 700,000 vehicles in midtown Manhattan each weekday. Now you will pay more for the privilege. Yes, privilege, as you have no constitutional right to drive there.
This makes absolutely no sense. Of course you have a constitutional right to drive into Manhattan. The Commerce Clause of the Constitution prevents states from interfering with interstate commerce.
He further states:
Driving to Manhattan already costs you in terms of gasoline, wear and tear, tolls on bridges and, most of all, your time. In weekday rush hours driving from Bridgeport to midtown takes about two hours, barring serious delays. By train the same journey takes about an hour and a half. But on the train you can work, read or take a nap.
Mind you, the train could be faster.
All true. But what Cameron neglects to mention is that the train is simply part of the entire commute. One must drive to the train and pay a monthly fee to park. In Fairfield, this is $420 annually. And the train tickets are not cheap. In Fairfield, a monthly ticket is $407.75. And the train arrives at Grand Central Station. There is still a commute to one’s work. Getting downtown to the Wall Street area can be another 45 minutes to an hour each way by taxi or subway. The roundtrip subway price is $5.50 and a roundtrip taxi is around $80.
Thus, commuting by train from Fairfield to Wall Street and back can easily take five to six hours each day and cost $7,000 annually by subway or $26,000 by taxi.
A much better solution is to allow developers to build spacious condos near the train stations along with more housing developments in the surrounding areas by decreasing the endless permit and zoning requirements. This will make the commutes to Manhattan more tolerable for condo buyers while encouraging more Manhattan businesses to relocate or set up satellite offices in Fairfield County.
But Cameron’s heart is in the right place. After keeping a car in Manhattan for three years, you cannot get me to drive there now. Even at gunpoint. The drive is hideous and many of the drivers are lunatics. The Cross Bronx Expressway and FDR are zoos. And good luck parking without having to take out a home equity loan.
Joe Bentivegna MD is an ophthalmologist in Rocky Hill.