In the 20th century, New York City endeavored to make itself more car-friendly. Under the decades-long leadership of city planner and master builder Robert Moses, the city built new expressways, highways, bridges and tunnels, all with the aim of bringing more traffic into New York.

“We simply repeat that cities are created by and for traffic. A city without traffic is a ghost town,” said Moses.

Today, New York City is arguably choking on the success of Moses' road-building program. According to Intrix, a traffic data company, U.S. drivers lost an average of 36 hours due to congestion. The Big Apple tops the list with 102 hours lost in traffic in 2021. Traffic and congestion have become synonymous with New York City. To bring the problem under control, the city has for more than a decade been pushing to implement the nation's first congestion pricing scheme.

Congestion pricing is a tax imposed on drivers entering car-clogged cities. Stockholm, London, and Singapore have already seen benefits from implementing this system: it reduces congestion, cuts car-related pollution, and provides a new source of revenue for public transit. Now, New York is pushing to become the first city to implement such a program in the U.S. In an effort to reduce street gridlock and bring funds to the cash-strapped M.T.A. According to the New York Times, New York City may soon levy a surcharge of up to $23 on vehicles that enter Manhattan below 60th Street. City agencies have already held 13 public meetings to address the concerns of impacted neighborhoods.

Small businesses play an essential role in New York City communities, from delivering specialty curated balloon decor, and serving home-cooked meals in train car diners, to providing cookware specifically geared towards ethnic cuisine. But many small businesses worry that the city’s plan to implement tolls will decrease their clientele and revenue, ultimately extinguishing them from their community

Sharon Hershkowitz, a small business owner of “Balloon Saloon” in Tribeca, says that congestion pricing will have a negative impact.

“Congestion pricing is going to be a disaster for all small businesses, especially ours since we are a delivery-oriented business. We’d be penalized for working,” Hershkowitz said.

Jane Lok, a small business owner of a kitchen appliance shop in Chinatown, generally agrees with Hershkowitz.

“I have a lot of people coming in from [outside] places, they see a culturally competent service who sells what they are looking for and I think that’s true for many businesses in Chinatown,” Lok says. “A certain amount of your business relies on clientele that come from outside and if it’s not easy for them for whatever reason- their age, their scale of subways- if it’s not easy for them to come in except for through vehicle of some sort, that basically cuts that revenue stream off completely.”

According to the New York Public Transit Association, 56% of people use public transportation as their preferred mode of transportation, making them the majority.

Theodore Karounos, owner of “Square Diner”, says “I don’t see this hurting my business one way or the other, right? I don’t really get anything in the way of car traffic business, at least I don’t think so, you know, most of my customers are tourists, locals, and people who work in the neighborhood.” With most of his customers being locals that are in or near the neighborhood, his diner is a quaint spot in Tribeca where customers can enjoy a hearty meal. But his success in the food industry does not mean he is personally exempt from New York’s congestion.

“I spend three hours in the car every day to move 34 miles. I will gladly pay 7,000 dollars a year to get half an hour of my day back,” Karounos said.

Jess Coleman, a Manhattan Community Board 1 Member, contributes [heavily] to the transportation committee. Having monitored transportation modes closely, Coleman believes that opponents of congestion pricing have it all wrong.

Coleman argues that the way that we could actually help small businesses is by investing in the ways that people are already coming into their businesses: public transit. By raising toll prices, that money will be used in an effort to modernize and improve the current transit system.

“The way that I see it is that we need to start somewhere and if there are effects on certain communities over other communities, that’s the sort of thing that we can adjust later on, but by and large, we need to get congestion out of Manhattan,” Coleman said.

Tiffany-Ann Taylor, VP of Transportation at Regional Plan Association, sees congestion pricing as an opportunity to address the transportation system’s contribution to “climates of sustainability.”

“If you really want to make sure the New York City region has a healthy economy and grows, you have to contribute and invest in this public transportation system. It is absolutely what keeps this region alive,” Taylor said.

Living in a world post-Moses means that it is a lot harder to build things. So this leaves James Sanders, architect, historian and filmmaker asking, what do we do if we can’t build our way out of the problem?

Sanders mentions other ideas passed around in the 70s where variable pricing could be introduced to Manhattan in order to compensate for the city’s dynamic pricing.

So what’s at stake here?

“I think congestion pricing is a really classic, urban issue. When you get a lot of people together in the same place, not everyone can have what they want,” Sanders said. “It’s a bold move and whenever you do a bold, big move, there’s always a lot of controversy. So what’s at stake is who’s going to be served and who is the city for?”

The MTA has yet to determine the toll price for congestion pricing or how frequently changes to the pricing scheme will happen.

On Sept. 23, 2022, the head of MTA Janno Lieber, told CBS that congestion pricing likely won’t be implemented until “early 2024.”

Sofia Valdes is a senior studying Journalism, Culture and Society. She is the Executive Producer at ESTV.

Bethany Johnson is a senior studying Journalism, Culture and Society. She is the Photo Editor at the EST.

What’s At Stake Here? New Yorkers Debate Congestion Pricing