IL: Editorial: New York’s congestion tax is no model for Chicago

Chicago traffic rivals New York City for worst in the nation. A report from Inrix consultants released on Jan. 5 shows Chicago commuters spend a whopping 102 hours a year in traffic. For comparison’s sake, commuters in Los Angeles rack up 88 hours, with Bostonians losing 79 hours per year to traffic congestion. Globally, only Istanbul has worse traffic. Our toddlin’ town has a bigger traffic problem than London. 

Congestion has, of course, been made worse by seemingly endless (and ill-timed) construction projects that disrupt the flow of traffic in and out of the city that do little to improve travel times. Given that the administration of Mayor Brandon Johnson is hunting for new revenue anywhere and everywhere and that New York began congestion pricing on Sunday, we weren’t surprised when Chicago Ald. Andre Vasquez said on X: “Congestion pricing makes sense as it helps lead to less congestion on streets, and if we model it in a way that is funded by those who come into the city, it helps fund road maintenance and safety.”

Ald. Vasquez forgets that Chicago isn’t New York, and neither is our traffic, which is most problematic on the expressways and main arteries, not in a South Loop business district, which was almost devoid of traffic, human or vehicular, during the first part of rush hour on Monday morning. Scarily so.

We’ve warned against congestion pricing in the past and hope it stays dead. Still, with a budget deficit looming next year and a mayor whose preferred mode of dealing with unpleasant fiscal realities is to hike taxes, revenue grabs like congestion pricing are always on the table.

We’d rather see attention paid to bringing Chicago-area commuters clean, efficient and safe public transit systems. As we’ve written many times, riders of the Metra, CTA and Pace are all too aware these transit systems are plagued with service issues and safety concerns. 

Though the CTA’s budget continues to grow, service reductions and disruptions remain a reality for people trying to get back to the office. Recently, the heads of Metra, CTA and Pace warned of 40% service reductions by 2027. Though CTA has increased train service to pre-pandemic levels, it often runs fewer trains than scheduled.

Interestingly, New York allows us to watch a congestion pricing model play out in real time. 

New York’s congestion pricing system took effect Jan. 5 for trips in Manhattan below, and including, 60th Street. From 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends, individual drivers will face $9 tolls approaching Manhattan, while trucks and buses pay tolls up to $21. Taxis and ride-share vehicles, on the other hand, pay just $0.75 and $1.50 tolls, respectively. Those fees will be passed onto customers. This is no doubt thanks to the expensive lobbying campaigns launched by ride-share companies to give their industry a competitive advantage. 

Data shows that on Jan. 6, the first Monday of the new pricing setup, inbound commutes via the Holland Tunnel that would normally have taken 19 minutes at 8 a.m. were cut down to 11 minutes, and a drive through the Lincoln Tunnel that used to take nine minutes took just five minutes. No doubt New Yorkers who typically drive into the city are adjusting to their new reality, and it’ll take far more time to fully understand what new traffic patterns will look like, especially once any holiday lag is over. New York is the first city in the country to adopt a policy otherwise more suited to European cities with clogged central business districts. 

While its tax policies are making headlines, New York has also been home to harrowing tales of subway violence, including the brutal killing of a sleeping homeless woman on an F train, who was set on fire and burned to death, seemingly at random. Hours later, someone pushed a 45-year-old man onto the tracks ahead of an oncoming train in Chelsea. Waiting at a stoplight beats worrying about becoming a victim. 

Drivers here already pay congestion-style taxes for ride-sharing in certain parts of the city, a policy established during the COVID-era to close a budget gap. We’ll keep an eye on the Gotham situation as it plays out, but New York’s solution clearly won’t work here in Chicago. 

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