In my opinion, the future of New York City’s transport looks grim. The subway system is crowded, and there are large swathes of the city with little to no coverage. Traveling by car in New York is very difficult, especially with the popularity of ride services such as Uber creating major traffic. The bridges and tunnels connecting the city are in need of major work, and the frequent construction and maintenance on them makes the traffic even worse for cars. The cost of traveling is rising as well, and tolls on bridges and subways have rose drastically in the past few years, and the increase doesn’t appear to be to stopping soon if nothing is done. Major work has to be done, and in my opinion, Sam Schwartz’s MoveNY seems like a very good starting point.
The plans proposed changes to bridge tolling should help with both congestion and raising the revenue necessary to fund the other aspects of the project. Having tolls within Manhattan itself is an interesting idea, and should do wonders to keep the tolls from being seen as only being a burden to the outer boroughs. At any rate, repairing the bridges and tunnels around the city is a priority, and having the funds necessary is essential to complete these projects. Other parts of the proposal, like the walking bridges, sound like they could be very good for the cities image, and could even be sources of revenue on their own from the tourism they attract.
-Jack Baumann
