43K fewer drivers on Manhattan roads after congestion pricing turned on

Overall reaction

• Many commenters see the early results as predictable: make driving more expensive and some people stop, with visible reductions in gridlock and faster buses.
• Others are skeptical about fairness, measurement, and whether $9 is enough to change behavior meaningfully.

Perceived benefits

• Reported faster bus speeds and smoother traffic are seen as strong validation, especially for buses that used to be “at the behest of insane traffic.”
• Several expect a virtuous cycle: with fewer cars, cities can expand dedicated bus lanes, bike lanes, and frequency, further improving transit.
• Reduced congestion is linked to better air quality, pedestrian safety, and potentially faster emergency response.
• Some view congestion pricing as correctly “internalizing externalities,” shifting costs from urban residents to drivers, especially suburban commuters.

Equity and access concerns

• Critics argue this functions as a “commute tax” that richer drivers can absorb but poorer commuters and patients (e.g., daily cancer treatments) cannot.
• Public transport is often impractical for people with serious medical conditions; some call for explicit medical exemptions or free/discounted key bus routes funded by the tolls.
• Others counter that a modest fee that discourages only a small fraction of trips can substantially improve travel times for everyone, including low‑income transit users.

Data quality and measurement

• Questions about cherry‑picking bus routes (e.g., B39) for best‑case improvements; defenders frame them as “poster child” examples, not necessarily outliers.
• One commenter notes comparisons to a prior January may be distorted by layoffs; others reply that NYC employment is actually up.
• Weather (recent snow and cold) is flagged as a possible confounder.

Revenue and pricing structure

• Back‑of‑the‑envelope calculations in the thread suggest inconsistencies between reported reductions, trip counts, and projected $500M/year revenue.
• Explanations offered: different rates for personal cars, taxis, and trucks; discounts and caps; possible toll fraud; and political tendencies to misestimate tax revenue.
• Revenue is reported as earmarked for capital improvements (trains, elevators, infrastructure), not operating subsidies, which some see as a missed chance to directly offset burdens on poorer riders.

Road space, cars, and urban form

• Strong current runs against car‑centric design: claims that city land devoted to roads and parking is “massively subsidized” and inefficient, with calls to raise charges until private car use in dense cores is rare.
• Counterarguments emphasize that roads long predate cars, that cities rely on them for logistics and emergency access, and that even transit‑rich places (e.g., Dutch cities, Tokyo) have high car ownership because people value the convenience and privacy.
• Multiple detailed sub‑threads discuss how to serve deliveries and emergency vehicles with narrower streets, banned on‑street parking, wider sidewalks that can take an ambulance, bike lanes sized for emergency vehicles, and tram rights‑of‑way.

Political and practical feasibility

• Commenters note that similar schemes have stalled or been politically costly in places like San Francisco and Vancouver.
• Some argue congestion pricing only makes sense where public transit is already “decent”; others respond that such policies are also a tool to push mode shift and justify transit upgrades.

Alternative ideas and side notes

• A thought experiment proposes “air traffic control for cars”: real‑time block‑level movement permits to keep vehicle density below a threshold.
• There is debate over whether cities should eliminate parking lots in favor of remote storage for cars (especially self‑driving fleets), with concerns this could instead flood roads with circulating empty vehicles.
• Personal anecdotes in the thread point to noticeably quieter streets and more pleasant biking conditions since pricing started, but some wonder if effects will persist into summer.