🚨 Tunnels, Tolls & Transit Tensions: Welcome to Edition #21 of the BOMA-NY Transportation Report 🗞️
February 2025 | BOMA-NY Codes & Regs Committee
Five weeks into congestion pricing and we’ve seen the good, the bad, the ugly—and the Upper West Side’s hippo count.
From faster trip times to political firestorms, the tolling era has transformed everything from budget forecasts to federal lawsuits. This month’s edition captures it all: the numbers, the blowback, and the billion-dollar backroom brawls. Also making an appearance: NYC’s bus network overhaul, subway crimes down (but joyrides up), anti-ghost plate task forces, aviation chaos, raccoons at LaGuardia, hippos in playgrounds, and a serious question: when did New Yorkers stop hanging out?
In this issue:
🚦 Congestion pricing reduced weekday vehicle entries by 5–8% in January
🛫 NYC airports set traffic records—even as safety fears grow after fatal crashes
💸 MTA still needs $33B (yes, billion) for transit upgrades despite toll revenue
🚇 Subway crime down 36% year-over-year—even as 2 teens joyride an R train
🚔 Fare evasion prosecution returns, with pressure on NYC DAs to crack down
🚘 Ghost plate crackdown begins, and 42nd Street may soon become a busway
🎨 Subway art, hippos, Bad Bunny, and Ed Glaeser round out the civic mood
— Glenn Waldorf
Transportation Subcommittee Chair
Bell Environmental Services
📞 973-575-7800
✉️ info@bellenv.com
✅ February 2025 Transportation Report Summary Bullets
🚦 Congestion Pricing – 5 Weeks In
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Vehicle entries to the Central Business District dropped:
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8.17% in Week 1, 4.78% in Week 2 vs. pre-toll data
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Trip times fell 10%–30% in most areas; Holland Tunnel down 48%, Canal Street 27% faster
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Traffic deaths dropped 44% citywide compared to 2024
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Subway safety improved; ridership is up 13.1% YoY
🚗 Political & Policy Reactions
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Permit parking pilot gains traction as city reassesses curb use
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Fort Lee traffic not worsened, per early data
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Port Authority revenue steady despite reduced volume
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NJ’s lawsuit expands to allege illegal FHWA actions
💣 Congestion Pricing Backlash & Legal Tensions
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NYC toll design angers Queensboro Bridge drivers: brief crossings still trigger the $9 charge
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NJ tried to buy $500K in anti-toll ads—MTA rejected as “too political”
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Gov. Murphy rolls out NJ RISE campaign to keep employers in the Garden State
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Trump considers killing congestion pricing, tying MTA funding to ICE cooperation
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FTA appointment of toll critic Marc Molinaro floated
🚇 Subway Safety & MTA Budget Gaps
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Congestion pricing expected to help fund:
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Second Ave Subway to Harlem
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ADA upgrades
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Signal modernization & new electric buses
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Yet the MTA still needs $33B in additional capital, or riders face a “Summer of Hell” like 2017
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Fare evasion losses totaled $600M in 2023; prosecutors urged to revive “theft of service” charges
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Subway crime down 36%, even as ridership jumped by 9 million YoY in January
🚇 Operations, Maintenance & Oddities
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R subway joyride: 2 teens caught after vandalizing and operating train
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Subway service halted by January power outage
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System still uses 1930s-era paper maps and analog switches
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MTA continues artist commissions across stations—Bad Bunny and Fallon featured
✈️ Airport Chaos & Curiosities
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NYC airports saw busiest year ever in 2024
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Amid fatal crashes in D.C., Philly, Alaska, and Japan, travelers grow wary
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Why planes are white: sunlight, fuel efficiency, bird visibility, paint weight, and UV resistance
🛠️ Infrastructure
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$1.8B Gateway Tunnel contract awarded—dig will connect NJ & NYC, save 9 months off schedule
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Subway improvements stalled unless $68B capital plan is filled
🧻 Public Safety & Clean Streets
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Gov. Hochul proposes banning parking near elementary school crosswalks
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Speed cameras cut crashes, but Albany debates expansion
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NYPD launches new Quality-of-Life Division for urination, panhandling, seat hogging
👻 Ghost Plates, Busways & Urban Design
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NYPD & MTA join forces against ghost plates and toll-cheat devices
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42nd Street to get $57M in security upgrades
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3 community boards push for 42nd Street busway, modeled after 14th Street
🚍 Bus Modernization
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Queens bus redesign approved to increase reliability, speed, and coverage
🧠 The Culture Shift
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New study: NYC pedestrians now walk faster and socialize less
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Decline in street interaction threatens urban “civil glue,” say urbanists like Ed Glaeser
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Sesame Street, stoops, and Rolling Stones cameos: maybe the old city spirit is worth saving
