Earlier this month, The New York Times sent 27 of its journalists out to record how many cars were entering Manhattan over the course of one morning, assessing how much money the city was missing out on without charging drivers a toll.
Originally published in a piece for the Upshot, this study had the journalists spread out across Midtown and Lower Manhattan, standing on street corners, overpasses, and atop pedestrian bridges and roofs while holding counter clickers to track how many cars were coming in. Additionally, they counted the vehicles that crossed into Manhattan south of 60th Street from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m..
The team’s objective was to figure out how much money the city was losing by following Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to block a New York’s congestion pricing plan, which would have come into effect on June 30 if it was passed. Under the plan, drivers entering the city’s central financial district during peak hours would be required to pay a $15 toll (driver of commercial trucks would have paid more, and motorcyclists would have been charged less).
The Times’ journalists were stationed at would-be tolling zones, including nine streets, four bridges and four tunnels where cars can enter the business district. Some zones required two counters, such as the Williamsburg Bridge, where two journalists stood guard, divided among the multiple lanes.
Over the span of two hours, the journalists counted a total of 22,252 cars, motorcycles, and buses. If the pricing plan had been enacted, The Times calculated, the money generated from those vehicles paying the toll would have been around $200,000.
While the team clarified that the final tally was a lower margin, and the missed cost was a rough estimate, they still asserted the analysis revealed what the city was missing out on by not putting the pricing plan into effect.
“We know that our number undercounts dramatically the number of cars that entered the island,” said Larry Buchanan, a graphics editor and reporter for The Times. “But still, in one hour, 27 people were able to count 22,000 cars. It’s a fun stunt and number to wrap people’s head around.”
Before it was shelved, New York’s congestion pricing plan was designed to minimize traffic and pollution produced from vehicles, and the money collected from the tolls would have been used to fund significant subway upgrades and renovations.
