The city should focus on limiting truck traffic rather than charging motorists to drive into Manhattan, Rep. Anthony Weiner said Sunday.
"Taxing people to drive from one borough to the next is not the answer," said Weiner (D-Brooklyn, Queens), who has been an outspoken critic of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion pricing proposal. "But reducing congestion must be a top priority, and to achieve this goal we must reduce the number of trucks on city streets."
The Democrat's six-point plan, which includes increasing truck tolls during peak hours and encouraging nighttime deliveries, came under immediate counterattack from the mayor's office.
"These ideas aren't all bad, in fact one out of every two of them are ripped right out of our policy books," said the mayor's spokesman, Stu Loeser. "But the toll proposal would drastically increase truck traffic in neighborhoods that already have high child asthma rates -- a huge step in the wrong direction by any measure."
Weiner's plan highlights federal statistics that show truck traffic in the city is increasing at three times the rate of car traffic. The Partnership for NYC, a pro-business group that supports congestion pricing, found that "trucks have a disproportionate impact" on traffic.
Transportation advocates, however, say that trucks account for less than 5 percent of all the miles driven in the city. The Partnership for NYC puts that number at 8 percent.
"Weiner's plan contains some good ideas to reduce truck traffic, but it's a pittance in terms of total traffic relief," said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives. "It also contributes nothing to mass transit funding."
Under Bloomberg's plan, private cars would be charged $8 to enter Manhattan below 86th Street during peak hours. Trucks would pay $21. The city expects to raise $400 million in the first year, all of which would be earmarked for subway and bus improvements.
Bloomberg's PlaNYC points to the success other cities have had charging motorists to drive on the busiest streets. London reduced traffic delays by 30 percent, without any negative economic impact, according to PlaNYC.
