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2025 J.L. & Mobility 1 (2025)

handle is hein.journals/jlwmby2025 and id is 1 raw text is: BEYOND CONGESTION PRICING GREGORY H. SHILL * Cite as: Gregory H. Shill, Beyond Congestion Pricing, 2025 J. L. MOB. 1. After years ofpolitical and legal efforts to block it, congestion pricing finally went into effect in New York City in January 2025. Early indications are positive, though threats to its continuation from the Trump administration and others remain. But its journey to this point has already made one thing clear: it is time for the Big Apple to seize more of its own destiny in transportation policy. The battles that delayed and still imperil the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's congestion pricing scheme underscore the need for policies that New York City can implement unilaterally. Making urban transportation policy in the shadow of an uncooperative gubernatorial or presidential administration is the norm, not the exception, and cities must be strategic. They should pursue policies that minimize the need for external buy-in-even from traditional allies like the MTA, a state agency. This call for increased city self-determination invokes Richard Briffault's expansive, functional conception of city power and is not limited to New York. Cities already possess abundant untapped authority in transportation and should use it. Through analysis of city-state transportation policy tensions, this Article applies Mancur Olson's collective action framework to explain why accomplishing congestion pricing was so difficult despite its clear win-win potential. In casting the challenge as one of concentrated costs and diffuse benefits, it contributes a novel taxonomy of stakeholders affected by congestion pricing. It also proposes a series of actionable changes that New York City can implement independently. These have the virtue ofoffering meaningful reform without the need for the approval of outside officials. Beyond the particulars of congestion pricing, such a strategy is of general and enduring importance given the widely noted propensity of states and the federal government to prioritize the transportation needs of other areas over those of cities. * Professor of Law & Sandler Faculty Fellow in Corporate Law, University of Iowa College of Law. The author thanks Sean McQuade for research assistance and managing editor Matt Blaszczyk for editing support. Some material in this Article was initially developed in Greg Shill, Congestion Pricing and the Way Forwardfor NYC, GREGSHILL. SUBSTACK.COM (June 6, 2024), https://gregshill.substack.com/p/congestion-pricing-and-the-way-forward.

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