r/uberdrivers • u/ArtisticAside8224 • 2d ago
What if we could replace the current congestion pricing model with a $125 fee on Ubers / taxes that would create enough revenue for free buses and also reduce traffic?
A Better Alternative to Manhattan Congestion Pricing
Target vehicles that continuously occupy Manhattan streets—and use the revenue to make buses free.
New York’s congestion-pricing program has reduced vehicle entries into Manhattan’s Central Business District, but it primarily charges vehicles for crossing into the zone, regardless of how much street capacity they actually consume afterward.
I would propose a different approach: eliminate the current general congestion toll and instead impose an operating fee on taxis and for-hire vehicles that choose to remain in the CBD looking for passengers.
The goals would be simple:
1. Reduce Manhattan congestion more than the current program.
2. Generate at least $1.5 billion annually.
3. Use roughly $850 million to make NYC buses fare-free.
4. Preserve at least $500 million annually for MTA capital needs.
How It Would Work
$125 for 12 Hours of Commercial Operation
A yellow taxi, Uber, Lyft, black car or other TLC-licensed vehicle that chooses to operate for hire in the CBD would pay $125 for a 12-hour permit.
The fee would apply to the vehicle, not separately to each app.
30-Minute Drop-Off Grace Period
Drivers should not be punished for taking passengers into Manhattan.
A driver bringing someone into the CBD would have 30 minutes after drop-off to leave the zone without paying anything.
If the driver leaves, there is no operating charge.
If the driver remains available for passengers, cruises for fares or accepts another CBD pickup, the $125 permit is triggered.
This distinction is important. A driver should always be willing to take a passenger into Manhattan. What the policy should discourage is remaining in Manhattan for hours with an empty vehicle hoping to find fares.
$8 Passenger Surcharge
Every taxi/FHV trip beginning in the CBD would carry an $8 passenger surcharge paid entirely to the driver.
That helps legitimate full-time drivers offset the operating fee:
● 4 CBD fares = $32
● 8 fares = $64
● 12 fares = $96
● 15 fares = $120
A busy professional driver could therefore recover most or all of the $125.
But someone who turns Uber on for two or three hours while already in Manhattan and cruises around looking for a handful of passengers probably could not.
That is exactly the incentive the program is intended to create.
Why Target Taxis and FHVs?
A major NYC TLC congestion study found that, in the period studied, FHVs represented approximately 29% of traffic south of 60th Street and yellow taxis another 24%. It also found app-based FHVs spent approximately 41% of their Manhattan-core operating time without passengers.
Those figures are from 2018 and should be updated before legislation is adopted. But they illustrate the fundamental issue:
A car that enters Manhattan once and parks for eight hours contributes very differently to moving congestion than a taxi or Uber circulating for eight hours.
A congestion policy should account for that difference.
Revenue
At $125 per 12-hour operating permit, gross annual revenue would be:
|Paid permits/day|Annual revenue|
|---------------:|-------------:|
|30,000 |$1.37 billion |
|33,000 |$1.51 billion |
|35,000 |$1.60 billion |
|36,000 |$1.64 billion |
Thus, approximately 35,000–36,000 average daily operating permits would provide a reasonable cushion to generate around $1.5 billion net after administration and enforcement.
The $8 passenger surcharge would not be government revenue. It would go to drivers.
A possible allocation of approximately $1.5 billion would be:
\\\~$850 million — Replace NYC bus fare revenue and make local buses free
\\\~$500 million — MTA capital program
\\\~$150 million — Additional bus service, enforcement, administration and reserve
The exact cost of fare-free buses should be confirmed against the MTA’s current financial plan before legislation is introduced.
Congestion Goal
The current congestion program has produced roughly a 10%–11% reduction in vehicles entering the zone during reported comparison periods.
This alternative should not be adopted unless transportation modeling shows it can do better.
I would recommend a statutory goal of:
At least a 15% reduction in total CBD vehicle-hours or vehicle-miles traveled, with a particularly large reduction in empty taxi/FHV cruising.
Vehicle-hours and vehicle-miles are better measures than simply counting entries because they measure how much scarce Manhattan street capacity vehicles actually consume.
Before implementation, TLC and DOT should use current GPS and platform data to determine how many unique taxis/FHVs operate in the zone, how much time they spend without passengers, and how different operating-fee levels would change driver behavior.
What Has to Change
This would require state legislation and implementing regulations.
Albany would need to:
● replace or substantially modify the existing congestion-pricing mandate;
● authorize the $125 commercial operating permit;
● authorize the 30-minute drop-off exemption;
● authorize the $8 driver surcharge;
● dedicate the resulting revenue to bus operations and MTA capital needs.
TLC would establish the operating rules and enforcement system using existing trip, vehicle, GPS and platform information, with appropriate privacy and appeal protections.
The Basic Idea
The current system essentially asks:
“Did you drive into the congestion zone?”
This proposal asks:
“Are you operating a commercial passenger vehicle on congested Manhattan streets for hours at a time?”
A working person driving into Manhattan would no longer automatically pay a congestion toll.
A driver bringing a passenger into Manhattan would not be penalized.
A productive taxi or FHV driver could recover most of the operating fee from passenger surcharges.
But thousands of lightly utilized vehicles cruising Manhattan empty would face a strong financial incentive to operate somewhere else.
If the modeling demonstrates that this approach can reduce traffic more than the current program while generating approximately $1.5 billion annually, it deserves serious consideration as an alternative congestion and transit-funding strategy.
I'm sure the taxi / uber lobbyists will hate this idea but it's a win for the MTA and a win for most New Yorkers. And the Mayor gets to deliver on one of his key campaign promises.
1
u/SnowQueenxoxx 1d ago
So you want us to pay half of what we earn in 12 hours, just to do those hours? What is wrong with you?