Congestion pricing is here!
(5min read) And, Tesla sales decline for first time in history.
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The New Year kicks off in New York with good news: New Jersey lost! Meaning that the Big Apple’s $9 congestion pricing toll has finally gone into effect over the vehement opposition of the Garden State’s political leaders. It’s unlikely we’ll soon see a similarly high toll elsewhere in the U.S. –– in Alabama even a $5 annual fee to support transit may be too much for politicians to stomach. The famously car-centric Los Angeles, however, is at least beginning to make its streets friendlier to pedestrians and cyclists, as ordered by voters.
Meanwhile, the big private sector story is that Tesla sold fewer cars in 2024 than 2023, the company’s first ever year-over-year sales drop. In Germany, two major eVTOL startups are at risk of collapse. Lyft sues San Francisco for overtaxation, a study finds that EV rebates are a much better use of tax dollars than charging infrastructure, California has new e-bike regs, and a key Biden official explains why he is optimistic about green energy even under a Trump presidency.
What you need to know
Congestion pricing kicks off: New York City implements its controversial “congestion pricing” toll without any apparent hiccups. It now costs $9 for drivers to enter midtown or downtown Manhattan. The billions the toll is expected to generate will go to shoring up the city’s beleaguered transit system, which is desperate for cash.
Congestion pricing has been kicked around for decades but has repeatedly been blocked or delayed. A $15 toll was supposed to go into effect last summer but was postponed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who raised concerns about the cost on suburban commuters, many of whom hail from competitive congressional districts that her party was targeting in November. With the elections out of the way, Hochul cleared the way for a much cheaper toll that still drew howls from suburban lawmakers and a failed legal challenge from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.
Will other cities follow the Big Apple’s lead? We wouldn’t hold our breath. In New York, it is easy (and accurate) to argue that this toll is largely paid by the privileged for the benefit of the masses, who in Manhattan mostly aren’t driving. That is sadly not the case in America’s more car-dependent cities.
Meanwhile, in Alabama… It would be unfathomable to charge commuters a daily fee to fund transit in Alabama, but one state representative has proposed $5 annual vehicle registration fee that would generate $26 million for public transportation across the state. The dollars would be distributed to counties based on vehicle registrations. Urban areas might use the money to prop up existing transit systems while rural ones could use the funds to support shuttles or other services targeting specific populations, such as people with disabilities
There are e-bikes and there are e-bikes: A new California law specifies that only e-bikes that have operable pedals and do not exceed 20 mph are considered bicycles. Those that exceed that speed or do not require pedaling will be treated the same as mopeds and must be registered as vehicles to be used on public roads.
Autopilot for Everyone: Autonomy Beyond Robotaxis
In this episode, Nick Perloff-Giles sits down with Henriette Cornet, USF professor and sustainable autonomy expert, and Toby McGraw, Chief Revenue Officer at Beep, an autonomous shared mobility startup, to discuss the past, present, and future of autonomy, with lessons from Europe and beyond on fleet management, integration of autonomous infrastructure into urban cores, and using autonomy to compliment, rather than compete, with public transit.
Tesla sales declined in 2024: Tesla experiences its first-ever drop in year-over-year vehicle sales. The EV maker delivered 1.77 million vehicles in 2024, a 2.2% drop from 1.81 million in 2023. The first full year of the Cybertruck does not appear to have helped expand the automaker’s reach. The car-maker’s two mainstays –– the Model 3 and the Model Y –– accounted for about 95% of its deliveries. Nevertheless, the company’s stock has soared in response to CEO Elon Musk’s proximity to the next U.S. president.
Trouble for eVTOLs: Volocopter, the German eVTOL pioneer files for bankruptcy protection, saying that despite robust fundraising and a low burn rate, it does not see a “viable solution to maintain regular operations” without restructuring under German “insolvency” proceedings. The startup, which has over half a billion dollars in funding, has developed several electric aircraft for short urban trips.
Lilium, another German eVTOL startup, similarly announced recently that two of its subsidiaries had filed for bankruptcy protection, but a group of investors are trying to save it.
¡Hasta pronto, Miami!
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LA begins implementing Measure HLA: The Los Angeles Transportation Department adds 350 feet of bike lanes to a road in the Tarzana neighborhood, the first instance of the city changing a street to comply with Measure HLA, the voter-approved referendum that requires street renovations to include enhanced pedestrian and bike infrastructure.
Subsidize EV buyers, not EV chargers: A study by Israeli researchers finds that rebates for EV buyers are 10 times more effective at increasing EV adoption than a similar amount of government funding for EV charging infrastructure.
Lyft sues San Francisco: The ride-hail company accuses the city of overtaxing it by $100 million. The city improperly counted money made by its drivers as company revenue, says Lyft. Gig companies have long argued that their workers should be treated as independent contractors, not employees, but in its complaint, Lyft says something completely different: that its drivers are actually its customers.
What we’re reading
A transit-friendly New Year’s resolution: For a happier, healthier life, CityLab’s Kendra Pierre-Louis has a suggestion: take the bus or the train. Even if it’s not as fast as driving, you might be surprised to find it’s more pleasurable.
Biden’s green future can still happen under Trump: Jigar Shah, who oversees the Loans Program Office at the Department of Energy, talks to the New York Times about how the Biden administration has driven a boom in renewable energy that will endure even as the climate-hostile Trump administration takes over. We shall see.
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Editor, CoMotion NEWS
jcraver@comotionglobal.com
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