征收拥堵费能缓解拥堵吗？

拥堵费是司机在高峰时段进入大流量地区需要缴纳的费用，这项收费即将在美国落地。作为州财政预算的一部分，纽约州的立法者已经通过决议，向进入曼哈顿第61大街以下的机动车辆收取日常费用。这一计划预计于2021年生效，所得资金将用于修缮纽约市境况不佳的地铁线路。

多年来，伦敦、斯德哥尔摩、米兰和部分国际大都市的司机也在缴纳类似的费用。伦敦交通局（Transport for London）的数据显示，2003年至今，伦敦市中心的私家车数量已经减少了30%，而规定实行的最初三年，这项费用还导致一氧化二氮排放量减少了17%。不过Uber和Lyft等租赁汽车服务的爆炸式增长削弱了政策的效果，它们在继续给伦敦人制造着拥堵。

专家指出，纽约的计划明显不同，很难预测它的影响。纽约大学鲁丁交通中心（Rudin Center for Transportation）的主任米切尔·L.·莫斯表示：“伦敦这个城市与纽约很不一样，纽约的收费区域比伦敦大得多。”

费城和洛杉矶也在考虑类似的计划，不过莫斯指出，纽约不同于其他美国城市，因为它有24小时开放的地铁，对汽车的依赖性相对较低：“可以在纽约推行计划的真正原因在于搭乘公共交通工具的人是开车的五倍。”

不过在将通勤者赶回拥挤的地铁这个问题上，如果立法者不迅速升级年久失修的运输系统，纽约市和纽约州恐怕会面临先有鸡还是先有蛋的难题。（财富中文网）

本文另一版本登载于《财富》杂志2019年6月刊，标题为《美国堵车的欧洲解决方案》。

译者：严匡正

Congestion charges—fees paid by drivers to enter highly trafficked areas in peak times—are coming to America. As part of the state budget, New York lawmakers have approved a daily charge on motor vehicles entering Manhattan below 61st Street. The plan is scheduled to go into effect in 2021, with the proceeds used to fix N.Y.C.’s ailing subway lines.

Drivers in London, Stockholm, Milan, and a handful of other international cities have been subject to similar charges for years. Since 2003, the number of private cars in central London has declined by 30%, according to transit authority Transport for London, and in its first three years, the tax was credited with a 17% reduction of nitrous oxide emissions. But its success has been tempered by the explosion of for-hire vehicles from services such as Uber and Lyft, which continue to create congestion for Londoners.

Experts point out that New York’s plan is distinct, and its impact is hard to estimate. “London is a very different city from New York,” says Mitchell L. Moss, director of NYU’s Rudin Center for Transportation. “It’s a much larger area than what’s [taxed] in London.”

Philadelphia and L.A. are considering similar schemes, but Moss points out that New York stands out from other U.S. cities because its 24-hour subway system makes it less dependent on cars: “The real reason you can do it in New York is five times as many people come in by mass transit as come in by car.”

But when it comes to shifting commuters back to overcrowded subways, the city and state could face a chicken-and-egg scenario, if lawmakers don’t act quickly to make updates to the aging transit system.

A version of this article appears in the June 2019 issue of Fortune with the headline “A Euro Solution for American Gridlock.”