Transportation reformers were left wondering what to make of the Bloomberg administration’s transportation priorities after the city abruptly announced the end of the rush hour carpool rule for the Lincoln and Queens-Midtown Tunnels and the Queensboro Bridge last Thursday.

Carpool rule opponents had not waged any overt campaign against it lately, and Mayor Bloomberg and Transportation Commissioner Weinshall had effectively refuted their arguments over the course of the winter.  Organizations that had supported City Hall on the issue were taken off guard by the move.

The city offered no rationale for making the change, or for its timing.A study the city commissioned on the carpool rule’s impacts and benefits, for instance, has never seen the light of day.  NYC DOT’s press release couched the change as a “lifting of restrictions,” carrying a “getting back to normal” tone that abandons any strong message about managing traffic congestion and its impacts. The city’s release cast maintenance of carpool rules for crossings below Houston Street in “ongoing emergency” language that omitted any mention of the permanent benefits offered by a long-term traffic control strategy.  A city DOT spokesperson told the Staten Island Advance that no decision had been made about whether the downtown carpool rule would be made permanent.  He said that would depend on “political will,” but Thursday’s action has left many wondering whose will is at issue.

In the long run, it would make little sense to have a downtown carpool rule but not apply it to midtown.

“The city has taken a real step backwards in the fight against traffic congestion.  Rebuilding issues aside, traffic congestion imposes a huge economic and quality of life burden on the city,” the Tri-State Campaign said in a release. “The carpool rule was the first real step in memory to address that burden, and midtown is certainly the district most afflicted by it.”

The midtown crossings move high volumes of traffic.  The tunnels and bridge that will no longer be affected by the carpool rule accounted for just under half of pre-September Manhattan vehicle entries below 62ndStreet.

The NY Times noted that parking garage owners and others had threatened a lawsuit against the rule.  It’s unclear that such action was pending, or that the city was not in a defensible position if action was ultimately taken.  It may also be possible that, given the city transportation establishment’s traditional devotion to unhindered motorist access and car commuting elites, maintenance of the carpool rule created an internal tension that led it to convince itself that some give-back to drivers had to made.

With the move and its accompanying rhetoric, the Bloomberg administration missed an opportunity to signal long-term interest in relieving congestion and the environmental, economic and quality of life burdens too many cars and trucks bring with them.

To the extent that there was a compelling political reason to change the rule, a better plan than easing it according to geography would have been to simply allow single-occupant vehicles back on the tolled crossings, but not the free ones.  The message could then still be delivered in terms of congestion management: “to drive into Manhattan at rush hour, you either double up or pay.” Because the city is re-instituting the pre-Sept. 11th HOV lanes on the Queensboro Bridge, the only difference between such a policy and what the city has actually implemented are a few standard Queensboro Bridge traffic lanes.

Will they, and tolled access at the Midtown Tunnel, be enough to satisfy the carpool rule’s critics over the long run?  We doubt it, and predict the city’s approach will encourage them to take aim at the Williamsburg Bridge before long.

Toll Agencies Could Step Up Where City Leaves Off

In January, the Port Authority indicated interest in developing more permanent HOV or bus-only capacity at the Lincoln Tunnel (MTR #347). Hopefully, the city’s removal of the carpool rule there will spur the Port Authority to action.

With the carpool rule off at the Midtown Tunnel, another consideration over the not-very-long term is whether the MTA will match the PA’s congestion pricing system. If the MTA announces toll and fare hikes after the fall election, it would be the time to introduce peak and off-peak rates.I  f off-peak tolls rise little or not at all, the plan could be more palatable to drivers than an across-the-board hike.

Description of Change from NYC DOT

No Let-up by MetroCard Mike (April 8, 2002)

Carpool Rule Encourages Transit Use, Reduces Traffic (March 4, 2002) 

Port Authority Considering More Bus-Priority Capacity in Lincoln Tunnel
(Jan. 7, 2002)

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