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Posted by
Stephen Bauman
on Mon Oct 21 22:18:34 2024
I added the following comment to today's (Oct 21) Streetsblog. It's a comment on an article that provides alternatives to Congestion Pricing. I noticed that the 2023 NTD tables have finally been released. They show the MTA operating efficiency has declined further, relative to other US operators.
Lucius Riccio's article raises some very interesting points. He asks for Congestion Pricing's (CP's) goals and points out (with examples) that each of these goals could be handled by means other than CP.
There are some shortcomings in his analysis. He states: "Does the MTA always spend their money wisely? Well, that’s another matter."
It's not another matter. The National Transportation Database (NTD) annual tables for 2023 have just been released. They again show that MTA NYCT and MTA Bus operations are the least efficient in the country by far.
Comparison of bus operations is the most instructive because there is little wiggle room for NYC exceptionalism excuses. The service efficiency the MTA's combined bus operations was $272 per vehicle-revenue-hour vs. $195 for Chicago's CTA bus operations. This $77 per hour difference would amount to an annual excess operating cost of $1.25 Billion, when extrapolated over the MTA's 16.25 million vehicle-revenue-hours in 2023.
Should the public keep throwing money at the MTA, when 28 cents of every dollar in bus operating expenses can be attributed to inefficiency? This is a question that has been ignored for over 20 years.
Raising the gasoline tax by $0.10 or $0.05 per year for 5 years may result in an unintended consequence. At the end of 5 years, there would be a 25 cent per gallon difference between gas in NYC and other areas within the MTA's service area. This is more than enough to make it worth it to shop for cheap gas over the city line.
There are several other shortcomings in Riccio's proposals. However, they are less numerous and less serious than those for CP. It's good that somebody is actually looking at alternatives and answering CP's proponents "what else is there" challenge.
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