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A Siena College poll released earlier this week seems to suggest that congestion pricing is not as unpopular as its opponents would like. The poll says only 40% of New Yorkers want the controversial MTA-funding plan to end; that compares with 51% when the $9 toll went into effect in December. The poll also suggests that 42% of NYC residents want to keep the plan in place, even though the Department of Transportation has set a March 21st deadline for the State to turn the scanners off. WOR’s Beat on the Street reporter Natalie Migliore decided to talk to the people for 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program. She hit the corner of 60th and Broadway, where the toll is charged, to find out what New Yorkers really think.
Congestion pricing was touted as a means to a shorter commute, but Migliore found one Queens resident who doesn’t think his commute got shorter: “I live in Queens, so it’s about an hour home from around here. I’d say it’s about the same. Yeah, the travel time really hasn’t changed for me, so I don’t know what the money’s for. It doesn’t make sense because the roads aren’t getting better, so we’re really paying for nothing.”
Another driver told Migliore that the lack of parking spots in Manhattan isn’t helping with congestion, either: “The city gets screwed, the people get screwed so much, the businesses get screwed, you know. Who drives in from another borough to go to this church because they did as a kid? Parking’s brutal because they took away so much parking.”
But Migliore did find several drivers who think the plan might be working, but they’re not really paying attention to the details, so they can’t say for sure, like this man: “I just really haven’t been looking out for it, and I guess it hasn’t been too big of a difference to where I’m like, the streets are empty. I guess time will tell, you know, if people are not coming in as much, but the city is so amazing, I think people still come in just as much because it’s New York City and people want to come in and then see everything, so I guess we’ll see.”
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