Exploring NYC’s Latest Policy | Congestion Pricing (on rollerblades)

Take a quick little shortcut. Congestion pricing. It is a very controversial topic slash subject these days. And, uh, with a very limited amount of research, I figured I would do a whole YouTube video on it because I'm so qualified in public policy. So for a little bit of context, my name is Ari. I am a urban rollerblader who's been living in New York City for the past 11 years now. I have lived in different parts of New York. I spent a few years in Brooklyn. Put me on my skates here. Congestion pricing went into effect a few weeks ago, I believe at the beginning of the year. That's right. Starting Sunday, you will be charged the toll entering Manhattan at or below 60th Essentially what this is doing is trying to disincentivize driving in those extremely densely populated areas. I got to go because I have a meeting in about 10 minutes all the way downtown. OK, it's a bit chilly today, so I'm going to put on my gloves. OK, so I have a meeting I got to go to real quick because it's a 27 minute cycle hour and 37 in a car, which makes no sense. 30 minute train ride. We're going to try to get there in about 15 minutes or so. 7th Avenue, straight down past Christopher Street to the West Village. I haven't skated in probably like two and a half weeks, probably because I did the Santa video on Columbus Avenue. See how many beautiful double parkers there are. From what I understand, congestion pricing only applies if it's below 59th Street. Oh, it's windy. I got you, but 72nd Street. Basically, what the city is trying to do is to disincentivize driving a personal vehicle in in the lower Manhattan in order to hopefully alleviate congestion. So I understand the intention and what a turn here. Nice. I haven't been on the road since this policy came into effect, so we're going to try to scoop it out together and see if it's changed at all. All right, so we're. Approaching the place where the congestion toll would be in effect so far. Maybe I spoke too soon. I'm going to cut in here and these guys are going to the West Side Highway. Try to broach that carefully. At least seems a little bit more chill. We're going to make a left here and then hang in the media, right? Seven. After this truck, I am rusty. We got this. It's a delayed red. Definitely not as crazy. I don't know if it's, you know, if it's like initial. We're going to try to filter our way in here. We're going to squeeze in here. We got the unparalleled stability right there. This car's turning. Go, go, go, go, go. I got a double Parker up here. I'm going to skip all this. My ears are still freezing. You got the green. Streets are pretty empty. It like feels like a weekend. Weekend. You like my voice crack there? Home stretch. Follow this guy's line a little bit. Oh, I don't like his line. I don't know why he went to the near side. He can't see ----. Hopefully I didn't miss it. We'll be back with more thoughts soon. Just getting done with the meeting here down in the west of Village right now. Going to start heading uptown. Starting to be kind of rush hour. So we'll see how the congestion is. Hopefully we'll be able to get a good idea. In the bike lane on 8th Avenue heading uptown. I'm going to take this uptown a little bit and then cross over to Hicks Avenue. Cause Hicks Avenue is definitely more hectic. Especially throughout rush hour. Posted temperature is 30 degrees. 30th Street. Maybe we'll make a right on 34th. Addison Square Garden and Penn Station on our right and left. It's definitely more chill here. There's not as many cars on the road. Here's where it always starts to get super hectic. Like always. Right around Bryant Park. Take the 6th Avenue Express. Yeah, so it's opening up a little bit. Seems to be better, but I don't know. Make a left on 57th Street. Going to go wide of these cars. Alright, we're going to go to 10th Avenue. On the sidewalk. Never do this. Should we take a little shortcut? Oh, I got you. Sorry. Oh, we can go. I'm going to just take a quick little shortcut. I'm going to get yelled at. Go ahead. They gave me the thumbs up. I'm going to take Amsterdam all the way up now. I was blocked off. Alright, we got the merch from Broadway. 72nd. First day skating of 2025. We got protection from this bus. We got the foot pool right here. Foot side. We made it. I have some more thoughts and I will give those to you inside. It's cold out there. Okay, fam. I just got back. So this is what I think about congestion pricing. I have a few thoughts and I would love to share all of them with you. Currently, as of now, there definitely seem to be quite a bit less traffic on the road. Like, I wasn't expecting it to feel as empty as it did. I haven't seen the streets like that in a really long time. The city is trying to disincentivize driving with a personal vehicle in the central business district. Basically, a lower part of Manhattan. The reality is, is that people who own cars in the city as it is, are already disincentivized like crazy. First of all, insurance premiums are significantly higher in New York. Number two, it's impossible to find parking pay for a parking garage or you have to rely on street parking. Even if you find a great spot, you have to move your car two times a week for street cleaning. The anecdotal data is that congestion pricing spooks drivers a little bit and they're just like, OK, we're not doing this. We're out. We'll work for a few months and then after that it will be business as usual. That's just my personal perspective. Sorry, I got cut off because I was yapping so much my memory card got full. So anyway, I rambled quite a bit here. Hopefully I'll edit this down into something succinct. Oh, that smells righteous. To get my first skate in 2025 in a bag. Thank you for bearing with me. Would love your thoughts. Thank you. I will see you in the next one. Peace and happy 2025. The first first skate of 2025. See ya. Peace.