Baldor, the Hospitality Alliance and about 100 other affected parties have formed a coalition in hopes of tempering the impact of congestion pricing on the local food supply chain. The participants include a number of local restaurants, as well as supermarkets and charities that feed the needy. But the main proponent of the initiative, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, has been adamant that New York City become the first jurisdiction in the nation to give congestion pricing a try. She’s noted in the multi-year run-up to implementation that several cities in Europe have successfully adopted the approach as a way of easing traffic and its negative impact, including air pollution. Hochul maintains that the program is necessary to generate the billions of dollars that are needed to shore up New York City’s ailing public transportation network. She contends that the congestion toll will spur more people to take a subway, bus or train, thereby generating the funds needed to make that experience more pleasant. But a 13% reduction of New York-caliber traffic isn’t going to have much of an effect on Baldor, according to Gottlieb. “It’s hard for us to translate that into anything meaningful,” he says.
“We are huge supporters of public transportation, and that’s how a lot of restaurant employees get to work,” says the Hospitality Alliance’s Rigie. But "if it’s going to be in effect, there should be an exemption for essentials like food. Seafood suppliers don’t have the option of taking the subway or public transportation.” The city’s venture has been in the works for years. Indeed, the initiative was originally scheduled to take effect in June, but Hochul postponed adoption days beforehand in the face of fierce opposition from the public. At that time, the plan called for charging passenger cars $15 per trip. The setup is based on a network of cameras and digital scanners. The scanners can read a vehicle’s EZPass, the onboard devices that allow a car to zip through a toll booth without having to stop. The trip is recorded automatically, and the fee is tacked onto the pass user’s monthly bill. If a car or truck isn’t equipped with an EZPass, the camera network captures the vehicle’s license-plate numbers. The data is cross- referenced with the state’s registration databases and a monthly bill is sent to whomever is listed as the owner. The setup has already been used by London and on most major bridges in the Greater New York City area.
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