Baby Boomers Should Support New York City’s Congestion Pricing
If the New York governor cancels congestion pricing for New York City drivers, it will deal a blow to many retirees who need the public transportation investments the measure promises.
Victoria Phipps/Getty Images
As the baby boomers, who remain forever young and have turned tax cuts into a public religion, approach the latter years, they will feel the pain of educating politicians to deceive the people. And it starts with the car and the subway.
When New York Governor Kathy Hochle made a last-minute decision in early June to indefinitely suspend congestion pricing, she halted a change that was likely to interest only New York City subway riders and bridge commuters. In reality, the rejection of the measure, which was intended to encourage more people to use public transportation and reduce traffic in the city, put the nation even further down the path to a looming crisis: the increasing immobility of aging baby boomers.
Our nation’s baby boom generation, 73 million strong, is aging. By 2030, one in five Americans, including all baby boomers, will be 65 or older. Whether it’s the housing market or ingrained habits, more of this generation than ever before will be aging in the places they know best. Many of them remain in the homes where they raised their children. In many parts of the country, these homes and the communities they inhabit were built on an outdated American dream of suburban homeownership with a garage. Decades later, this “dream” is fading. Dependence on cars will make life harder for many as their abilities and physical capabilities inevitably decline.
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This means that America’s urban, suburban, and rural communities will increasingly be called upon to help older adults who can no longer drive themselves (or, given declining numbers, shouldn’t) get to social events, medical appointments, and community engagements. The alternative is isolation, which, according to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, is one of the biggest obstacles to mental and physical health.
Baby boomers who live in urban areas may enjoy advantages over their car-dependent counterparts in surrounding areas, such as easier access to health care, community resources, and quick deliveries. They may also have attentive neighbors (who may be nosy) and corner stores (who may be noisy).
Yet, the ability to move around a city relies on good public infrastructure. This can take the form of small but meaningful interventions like smooth sidewalks, step-free access to buildings, and public benches and shaded rest areas. Other infrastructure, like bus ramps, intersection timings that take into account slower walking speeds, and subway platforms with elevators, require more resources.
These investments are overwhelmingly worthwhile for those who will use them now or in the future. Improved accessibility helps everyone: people with temporary or permanent disabilities, travelers with luggage, and parents with strollers. Serving all current and potential users of the system is key to its success.
New York City was expected to use the $15 billion in revenue generated by the congestion charge to fund accessibility improvements, such as elevators and ramps, that would (eventually) be installed at 346 subway stations. However, the repeal of the congestion charge jeopardized New York City’s ability to provide adequately accessible transit service. Without the revenue expected to be generated from the charge, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) was forced to cancel or delay improvements that would help passengers who want to board trains without using stairs.
It is depressing to sidestep accessibility improvements and ignore basic needs like keeping trains running as we face a “silver tsunami” of seniors who are no longer able to drive and who are increasingly reliant on public transportation. As baby boomers reach the stage where they can’t, shouldn’t, or choose not to drive, they will become more reliant on public transportation, not just in transportation hubs like New York City and Chicago, but also in smaller cities and suburbs where it’s difficult for family and friends to help with every trip.
Not only will the MTA have to dig through its couch cushions for elevator funding, it will also be forced to put the brakes on introducing new accessibility innovations, such as wheelchair locks on buses, tactile guides, voice announcement apps for visual signs for the blind and low vision, haptic technology for the deaf and hard of hearing, and specialized apps for riders with cognitive disabilities. These cuts are especially painful given transit agencies across the country, led by New York City, that have boldly expanded accessibility offerings beyond elevators and ramps mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act to include people with visual, hearing, cognitive, and other potentially invisible disabilities.
It is shameful that accessibility improvements are being thwarted in New York City, but it is shortsighted to think that only New Yorkers are affected. In fact, the New York City metropolitan area accounts for 8% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by transporting workers in core industries such as information and finance. As subways develop, so will a large part of the U.S. economy. And many riders who currently rely on subway efficiency will rely on subway accessibility in the future. Moreover, Hawkle’s shortsighted and unexpected repeal of congestion pricing undermines what had been hailed as a step toward more sustainable U.S. cities and a more liveable, breathable future nationwide.
President Joe Biden’s administration recognizes the importance of efficient, sustainable, and equitable mobility across American cities and has invested more heavily in public transportation than any previous administration. But it’s also clear that the administration foresees that access to public transportation will be a critical safety net for an aging population. One direct way to ensure that access has been congestion pricing, so its “pause” should alarm Americans.
We need to build both the physical and social infrastructure to care for America’s current and future seniors. Now is the time to get America’s pro-aging policies back on track to avoid a future mobility crisis.
This is an opinion and analysis article and the views of the author are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
