A modest improvement in air quality is celebrated in Manhattan as the most optimistic thing anyone has said about it in years
Congestion Pricing Air Quality Finding Gives New York a Slogan It Can Live With
NEW YORK – After a year of tolls, lawsuits and arguments at every dinner table south of 60th Street, researchers have delivered a verdict on congestion pricing that New Yorkers consider high praise. As a transit forum relayed from local reporting, a study found the tolls have left the city’s air “a bit less filthy”, while the tolls brought in 562 million dollars after expenses during their first year. The phrase “a bit less filthy” has since been embraced across the five boroughs with the warmth usually reserved for a playoff win.
“That is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard said about this city,” said Arlene Kowalczyk, 68, of Hell’s Kitchen, who has lived on the same block of Ninth Avenue since 1979. “Not clean. Nobody said clean. Clean would be a lie and we would know. A bit less filthy. That is honest. That is achievable. I had it printed on a tote.”
The Measurable Difference
The Tenth Avenue Bureau of Breathable Outcomes, a neighborhood group that monitors air with a device taped to a fire escape, has documented changes residents say they can perceive:
- The air on 42nd Street now tastes like one thing at a time
- White shirts last until roughly 2 p.m.
- Pigeons observed “looking rested”
- A man on Eighth Avenue reported smelling a tree
- Honking down slightly; yelling holding steady
Bureau chair Leonard Abramowitz said the improvements should not be oversold. “You still would not want to lick anything,” he said. “But I opened my window in July and what came in was mostly weather. Ten years ago what came in was a bus.”
Fewer Cars, Same Attitude
The traffic numbers back up the nose. One summary of the first-year results said Manhattan’s congestion pricing cut traffic by 11 percent and boosted revenue for the transit agency, with faster buses and growing acceptance among residents. Drivers who still enter the zone report the experience has changed. “There is room now,” said a contractor from Staten Island idling on Canal Street. “I pay nine dollars and I get to be angry at fewer people. It is a premium product. I hate it. I use it every day.”
Opponents Regroup
Those who fought the toll have not surrendered. A New Jersey commuter group maintains the program is a cash grab and has noted that the air in Fort Lee is “the same or worse, possibly out of spite.” A Long Island legislator said the benefits are concentrated in Manhattan, which he described as “a place I refuse to go and resent being charged for.”
A survey of 700 residents by the Bureau found that 59 percent now support congestion pricing, 31 percent oppose it, and 10 percent said they support it “but will never say so in front of my brother-in-law.” Among drivers, 48 percent said the toll had changed their habits and 52 percent said they had always taken the train and were lying before.
The Marketing Opportunity
City boosters have moved quickly. A tourism campaign under development reportedly features the skyline at dusk over the words “New York: A Bit Less Filthy.” Alternate taglines tested with focus groups included “Now With 11 Percent Less” and “You Can See Jersey, If You Want.” A souvenir shop in Times Square is selling a snow globe with visibly clearer water for two dollars more than the old one.
Where the Money Goes
The revenue is earmarked for transit repairs, signals, elevators and new train cars. Riders are waiting to feel it. “They made half a billion dollars,” said a nurse on the downtown platform at 50th Street, watching water run down a wall. “I would like to see some of it on this specific wall.” The Bureau has asked that at least one station be cleaned to the standard of the air, which members concede is a low bar and a good start.
Scientific Caution
Researchers stress that air quality depends on many factors, including weather, and that one year is a short record. Abramowitz accepts the caveat. “Maybe it was the toll, maybe it was the wind,” he said. “In this city you take the win. Somebody tells you it is a bit less filthy, you say thank you and you do not ask follow-up questions.”
London Has Been a Bit Less Filthy Since 2003
The result was received with a knowing nod in the United Kingdom, where the capital has charged drivers for two decades and still argues about it. The London Prat’s British satirical news on clean air reported that the fog over the Thames is now “artisanal.” Its London satirical news on the congestion charge welcomed New York to the club of cities that are improving and furious about it.
Kowalczyk took her tote to the corner on Friday and stood for a moment at the light. A truck went by. Then, for nearly four seconds, nothing did. She breathed in. “Diesel, but faint,” she said. “Like a memory.” Bohiney Magazine inhaled on the record and can confirm the finding.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/