Tolls to cut down on NYC's gridlock?

(New York - WABC, , 2006) (WABC) -- There is another vote of support out there for charging people money to drive below 60th Street in Manhattan. A new study being released today shows New York City is losing billions of dollars every year because of major gridlock.

Eyewitness News reporter Lisa Colagrossi has the story.

This is an idea that has been floating around for some time but never took off. A private business group has enlisted environmental and neighborhood groups to try to push the idea of congestion pricing.

The business group is supporting a plan to charge drivers a substantial fee each time they drive anywhere below 60th Street. That adds up to almost 800,000 cars and trucks every day.

This will be the latest big money push for a big change in the way New Yorkers drive. The cornerstone of this plan is congestion pricing. The idea is to charge drivers who insist on bringing vehicles into the busiest parts of the city.

London has been using congestion pricing for years now, to squeeze drivers out of the city center. Sensors and cameras enforce the system in which each driver pays about $14 dollars a day just to enter key parts of the city during peak hours.

London city officials say the area's traffic has been cut by about 30 percent in those peak hours.

In New York though, city council members point to those parts of Queens and Brooklyn, with little or no subway service. Commuters there drive to Manhattan. They say congestion pricing for them would be a punishing blow.

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