Mr. mayor: The time to thin traffic is now

Dear Mayor de Blasio:

A momentous vote by state legislators on whether to impose traffic congestion pricing for Manhattan below 60th Street is expected in March. The plan, developed by highly respected traffic engineers, is the sure way to prove that “greatest city in the world” stuff is more than bluster. There literally is no rational argument against it. So I was flabbergasted to read that you of all people are the leading opponent.

The Move NY Fair Plan stipulates no free rides where demand exceeds supply; everyone has to chip in. It is the only way to speed traffic by 20 percent (for bus riders too), cut pollution and calm an often chaotic street scene. It also solves your biggest headache by raising $15 billion for rebuilding the subway without raising taxes a penny.

With respect, we need to cut the political bullshit and talk straight on how congestion actually hurts Upper East Siders on the ground.

Upper East Siders (and Upper West Siders, too) suffer from congestion more than other folks in other neighborhoods because we are the (free) gateway to Midtown Manhattan. When the marine transfer station on East 91st and FDR Drive opens it will get worse.

Take this example of a recent journey: We stewed on the M79 Select Service (“fast”) bus through three signal changes to cross Lexington Avenue where we encountered three blocking-the-box violations, all unpunished. The bus driver scowled that he's never seen a cop issue a summons for similar violations. Then he volunteers he was just blocked for three more signal changes at Park Avenue too!

That's spells stress for 40 riders and the driver induced by GRIDLOCK, a term used around the world, It was conceived right here in Manhattan by the beloved “Gridlock Sam” Schwartz, the internationally renowned traffic engineer. Horrified by his bastard child, he created the Move NY Fair Plan with pioneering thinkers Charles Komanoff and Alex Matthiessen.

Let's face it, Mayor, you'll never have enough traffic agents to enforce all these violations. There will always be too many vehicles, not enough lanes, stretched red lights and injured pedestrians on the lawless streets of Manhattan when access is free. Like the psychologists say, you gotta pay to get better.

It's open season on Upper East Siders afoot when drivers HONK their frustrations. Then the trucks honk fortissimo three octaves lower if they're not running red lights to game the gridlock.

The city is depriving us of a New Yorker's most precious commodity: Time. Hardly out the door, we are assaulted by fumes, of anger and combustion. Our disgust already rising and it's only 8 a.m.

Upper East Siders pay among the highest tax rates in the country. We don't get why for all that money the traffic is so chaotic, the subway is deteriorating, commuting is eating up more of our precious time, and the quality of life is awful.

Thank God the economy's good but when it turns nasty we might just move where taxes are lower, the commute is shorter, and folks are friendly and not always honking at us.

The people who suffer most from this scourge, the bus drivers in the Transport Workers Union, are strong supporters. (And they support you.) The opponents? Mostly suburban Republicans (not exactly your crowd).

Progress means to move forward. Gridlocked folks don't move at all. The solution is simply to subordinate the privileges of a few for the welfare of many, a classic progressive reform strategy. Move NY charges drivers who can most afford it (a small group) for the benefit of everyone.

Better than bragging about the “world's greatest city,” plow $15 billion into mass transit and really make our subway among the world's best. Mr. Mayor, of your policy accomplishments to date, is there one that would make such a revolutionary transformation ... overnight? This is a huge opportunity of national significance.

Upper East Siders are holding a spot for you at the head of the Move NY campaign.

P.S. Upper East Siders and New Yorkers with commuting stories they would like to share with the mayor can write to his office.

John Steinberg lives on East 79th Street.