In New York City, one common argument against congestion pricing (or in fact, against any policy designed to further the interests of anyone outside an automobile) is that because outer borough residents are all car-dependent suburbanites, only Manhattanites would benefit.
For example, film critic John Podhoretz tweeted: “Yeah, nothing easier that taking the subway from Soundview or Gravesend or Valley Stream.”
Evidently, Podhoretz thinks these three areas are indistinguishable from the outer edges of suburbia: places where everyone drives everywhere.
But let’s examine the facts. Soundview is a neighborhood in the Southeast Bronx, a little over 8 miles from my apartment in Midtown Manhattan near the northern edge of the congestion pricing zone. There are three 6 train subway stops in Soundview: Elder Avenue, Morrison Avenue, and St. Lawrence Avenue.
Soundview zip codes include 10472 and 10473. In zip code 10472* only 25.7 percent of workers drove or carpooled to work according to 2023 census data; 59.6 percent use a bus or subway, and the rest use other modes (including walking, cycling, taxis and telecommuting). 10473, the southern half of Soundview, is a bit more car-oriented- but even there only 45 percent of workers drive alone or carpool. 41 percent of 10473 workers use public transit- still a pretty large minority by American standards, and more than any American city outside New York. In the two zip codes combined there are just 45,131 occupied housing units, and 24,094 (or 53 percent) don’t have a vehicle. In other words, not only do most Soundview residents not drive to work, most don’t even own a car.
Gravesend, at the outer edge of Brooklyn over 12 miles from my apartment, is served by three subway stops on the F train alone: Avenue P, Avenue U and Avenue X. It is also served by numerous N train stops (Kings Highway, Avenue U, and 86th Street). Finally, the D train (Bay 50 St.) runs on the neighborhood’s eastern edge.
Gravesend mostly overlaps with zip code 11223. As one might expect from a zip code this far from Manhattan, most households own cars. But even here, 39 percent of households do not- a pretty high number compared to Anysuburb, U.S.A..
Furthermore, many of these drivers don’t use them as intensively as suburbanites do. In 11223, only 36 percent of workers drive alone or carpool. 38 percent use public transit, and the rest walk, cycle, work from home or use taxicabs. In other words, most Gravesend residents (even a large minority of those who own cars) don’t drive to work.
Valley Stream, by contrast, is a Long Island suburb and therefore not served by the New York subway. So there, car ownership is far more common. (In fact, only 6.4 percent of households are carless).
But even Valley Stream is served by the Long Island Rail Road. And they use it, too. Even in Valley Stream, 20 percent of workers commuted by public transit in 2023- higher than in most central cities outside New York. (By contrast, in my home town of Atlanta, only 5 percent of city residents did so). Moreover, this number includes residents who work in car-dependent suburbs in Long Island- so the transit mode share among New York City workers or Manhattan workers is probably far larger.
In sum, even suburbs and outer borough neighborhoods far from Manhattan have plenty of transit riders and (in the latter case) carless households. So the claim that residents of these places can’t take the train is generally false.
*Technically, “zip code tabulation area” since that’s what the Census Bureau has data for.
