The Motorcade and the City
Terry H. Schwadron
April 12, 2024
Perhaps the only unheralded aspect of Donald Trump’s criminal trial next week on charges that he broke election laws by hiding hush-money payments are the ironies over how he will get to the courthouse.
We already have heard way too much about how he is the first former president to face criminal charges, about the testimony expected to link efforts to hide sexual encounters to falsifying election campaign documents, about Trump’s non-ending complaints that he is being persecuted in an election year and that somehow, it’s all Joe Biden’s fault.
But little has been said about transportation in a crowded city. Of course, Trump will travel through the streets of downtown Manhattan in a 10-car caravan from the midtown Trump Towers, undoubtedly disrupting city traffic. Anyone else would take the subway or even a cab.
It feels ironic that if any of his multiple delaying tactics had taken hold, Trump could have found himself in the grip of the city’s new anti-gridlock traffic congestion rules that are scheduled to kick in in June. The second irony is that in his public plea not to be singled out for prosecution, the Trump caravan would have been exempt from a $15-per-car cost during the day (trucks will pay more and during off-peak hours less) that is being assessed on cars entering midtown and lower Manhattan because he can afford to live within the designated zone.
Of course, that won’t apply to the court employees, jurors, and witnesses who will have to greet four days a week, cops and emergency personnel who need to mind his arrivals, or the coffee guy on the corner near the courthouse. They will have to pay to drive into lower Manhattan from areas above midtown, from the outer boroughs or New Jersey.
Congestion Pricing Thinking
It’s all part of a contentious, long-standing effort to address car and truck traffic and air pollution in overcrowded Manhattan by charging commuters, a plan that still faces court challenges presuming that the plaintiffs can afford to get to the courthouse that day. Electronic sensors will flag cars and trucks headed below 60th Street whether to go to work, deliver groceries or visit a sick relative, with notices for payment going to registered owners.
As in London, where this congestion pricing trend started, and in Milan, Singapore and Stockholm, the idea is to make it easier to get around. In New York, the promise is to shunt the revenues into mass transit.
In real life, of course, it means that wealthy people will continue to do as they please, and less wealthy will gripe about cost, inconvenience, and class warfare.
Once it starts in New York City, you’ll see it spread to Washington, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago — unless rampant fury over the plan and multiple lawsuits in federal courts halt or block its implementation. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) estimates that the number of cars downtown will drop by 17%.
The officials in charge of this plan have exempted the FDR Thruway on the east and the Westside Highway on the west, and they have exempted emergency vehicles to forestall criticism. But a normal food delivery truck will have to pay $24–36 to restock store shelves — a cost that will be passed on to you and me. A cab or Uber will charge an extra $1.25 on top of the other extras already charged.
Opponents include Commuters, teachers, first responders, taxi drivers and small business owners in Manhattan — and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who complains that his commuting residents already must pay heavy bridge and tunnel fees. The business community argues that this will make life more difficult for employees and supply lines alike and will harm economic growth in the city.
It’s all something to consider when you start seeing those motorcades taking Trump back and forth from court.
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