MTA Argues Pedestrian Throughput Optimization Is The Natural Extension Of Vehicle Pricing Philosophy
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
New York City Introduces Congestion Pricing For Sidewalks After Discovering People Also Walk Too Slowly
NEW YORK — Building on the success of its vehicle congestion pricing program, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Tuesday a proposal to extend congestion pricing to pedestrian use of Manhattan’s most heavily trafficked sidewalks during peak hours, arguing that slow walking creates the same throughput bottlenecks as slow-moving vehicles and that the same economic incentive mechanisms that improved vehicle flow will similarly optimize pedestrian movement.
Under the Pedestrian Throughput Optimization Program, formally PTOP, pedestrians using designated high-congestion sidewalk segments in Midtown Manhattan between seven and ten in the morning and four and seven in the evening would be charged a base rate of two dollars per block. Pedestrians walking at speeds below what the MTA defines as “target pace” (approximately 4.5 feet per second, or a 12-minute mile) would be subject to a slow-walking surcharge of one dollar per block. Pedestrians who stop entirely to look at their phones, read menus, take photographs, or engage in what the proposal calls “non-transit pedestrian activity” would be charged a standing fee of fifty cents per minute.
MTA Chairman Rodrigo Kellerman-Vance described the proposal as “a logical extension of our pricing philosophy to all modes of transport.” He noted that congestion is “fundamentally a problem of too many people or vehicles using a fixed infrastructure at the same time” and that “whether the vehicles are cars or humans, the economic solution is the same.”
The Enforcement Mechanism
The enforcement mechanism proposed in the PTOP documentation involves overhead sensors at the entrance to each designated sidewalk segment that would detect a pedestrian’s pace and deduct the appropriate charge from a linked payment account. Pedestrians without linked accounts would be required to tap their MetroCard or contactless payment card against a reader mounted at chest height on streetlamp poles spaced every twenty feet.
The twenty-foot reader spacing is intended to allow pedestrian speed to be calculated between readers, triggering the slow-walking surcharge for anyone who takes more than approximately 4.4 seconds to cover the twenty-foot distance. The MTA acknowledges, in the technical appendix, that various pedestrians may have legitimate reasons for walking slowly, including disability, age, and carrying heavy items, and proposes an exemption application process “to be developed.”
The standing fee would be triggered by the absence of lateral movement between two consecutive sensor readings five seconds apart. The proposal notes that “incidental pauses” of under five seconds would not trigger the charge, but that “sustained non-transit standing” would. The proposal does not address the situation of pedestrians who are standing in a line that is not moving despite their personal desire to move.
This kind of technological enforcement framework that solves a simple behavioral problem by introducing a complex measurement and payment infrastructure is consistent with a long New York City tradition of addressing transit efficiency problems with solutions whose implementation costs substantially exceed the efficiency gains they produce.
The Revenue Projection
The MTA projects PTOP will generate approximately 840 million dollars annually in its first full year of operation, based on estimates of pedestrian volume on the designated segments, average pace distribution, and standing behavior frequency. The projection is based on pedestrian behavior data collected from existing cameras in the designated areas.
Several economists, reviewing the projection, noted that it assumes pedestrian behavior will remain constant after pricing is introduced, which is an unusual assumption for a pricing program whose entire rationale is that pricing will change behavior. If the pricing succeeds in its stated goal of increasing pedestrian pace, the slow-walking surcharge revenue would fall substantially, producing total revenue below the projection. If the pricing fails to change behavior, the revenue would be higher but the policy objective would be unachieved.
This is consistent with a wider pattern in congestion pricing revenue projections in which the fiscal case and the policy case are made simultaneously using assumptions that are incompatible with each other.
The Tourist Question
The tourist question is the immediate practical concern that several city council members raised in response to the PTOP proposal. New York City receives approximately 60 million tourists annually. Tourists, by available behavioral analysis, walk substantially more slowly than local residents, stop more frequently to look at things, and spend more time in exactly the Midtown areas designated as PTOP zones. Tourists also, it should be noted, spend substantial money in those same areas.
One council member estimated that under PTOP, a tourist family spending three hours walking through Midtown might accumulate approximately 85 dollars in sidewalk charges, which would represent a substantial addition to the cost of a New York City visit and which would, the council member argued, “produce a notable reduction in the number of tourists who walk slowly through Midtown to spend money in the stores and restaurants that make Midtown economically viable.”
The MTA’s response to this concern was that tourists who found the pricing inconvenient could “use alternative routes on undesignated sidewalks,” which are, in Midtown Manhattan, also quite congested, or could “use the subway,” which is where the MTA would prefer pedestrians to be.
The Public Hearing
A public hearing on the PTOP proposal is scheduled for next month. The MTA has indicated it expects “robust public engagement.” Several advocacy organizations have already indicated they plan to testify, including the Times Square Alliance, which is broadly supportive; Disability Rights New York, which has significant concerns about the exemption process; and what one organizer described as “a coalition of slow walkers who feel personally targeted.”
For more on New York City transit pricing innovation, see The Daily Mash for related coverage of London pedestrian management debates.
The PTOP proposal requires City Council approval before implementation. The sidewalks continue to operate at their current unpriced efficiency.
SOURCE: https://sites.google.com/view/world-satire/united-kingdom-and-satire