🚨 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
Vehicle entries to the Central Business District dropped:
8.17% in Week 1, 4.78% in Week 2 vs. pre-toll data
Trip times fell 10%–30% in most areas; Holland Tunnel down 48%, Canal Street 27% faster
Traffic deaths dropped 44% citywide compared to 2024
Subway safety improved; ridership is up 13.1% YoY
🚗 Political & Policy Reactions
Permit parking pilot gains traction as city reassesses curb use
Fort Lee traffic not worsened, per early data
Port Authority revenue steady despite reduced volume
NJ’s lawsuit expands to allege illegal FHWA actions
💣 Congestion Pricing Backlash & Legal Tensions
NYC toll design angers Queensboro Bridge drivers: brief crossings still trigger the $9 charge
NJ tried to buy $500K in anti-toll ads—MTA rejected as “too political”
Gov. Murphy rolls out NJ RISE campaign to keep employers in the Garden State
Trump considers killing congestion pricing, tying MTA funding to ICE cooperation
FTA appointment of toll critic Marc Molinaro floated
🚇 Subway Safety & MTA Budget Gaps
Congestion pricing expected to help fund:
Second Ave Subway to Harlem
ADA upgrades
Signal modernization & new electric buses
Yet the MTA still needs $33B in additional capital, or riders face a “Summer of Hell” like 2017
Fare evasion losses totaled $600M in 2023; prosecutors urged to revive “theft of service” charges
Subway crime down 36%, even as ridership jumped by 9 million YoY in January
🚇 Operations, Maintenance & Oddities
R subway joyride: 2 teens caught after vandalizing and operating train
Subway service halted by January power outage
System still uses 1930s-era paper maps and analog switches
MTA continues artist commissions across stations—Bad Bunny and Fallon featured
✈️ Airport Chaos & Curiosities
NYC airports saw busiest year ever in 2024
Amid fatal crashes in D.C., Philly, Alaska, and Japan, travelers grow wary
Why planes are white: sunlight, fuel efficiency, bird visibility, paint weight, and UV resistance
🛠️ Infrastructure
$1.8B Gateway Tunnel contract awarded—dig will connect NJ & NYC, save 9 months off schedule
Subway improvements stalled unless $68B capital plan is filled
🧻 Public Safety & Clean Streets
Gov. Hochul proposes banning parking near elementary school crosswalks
Speed cameras cut crashes, but Albany debates expansion
NYPD launches new Quality-of-Life Division for urination, panhandling, seat hogging
👻 Ghost Plates, Busways & Urban Design
NYPD & MTA join forces against ghost plates and toll-cheat devices
42nd Street to get $57M in security upgrades
3 community boards push for 42nd Street busway, modeled after 14th Street
🚍 Bus Modernization
Queens bus redesign approved to increase reliability, speed, and coverage
🧠 The Culture Shift
New study: NYC pedestrians now walk faster and socialize less
Decline in street interaction threatens urban “civil glue,” say urbanists like Ed Glaeser
Sesame Street, stoops, and Rolling Stones cameos: maybe the old city spirit is worth saving
