Congestion Pricing Prophet:
‘Biking Is the New Golf!'
By: Matthew Schuerman
Date: 2/5/2007
"I notice when I am riding that I run a lot of red lights," the 6-foot-2 Paul Steely White shouted over his shoulder. "The way I think of it, it is more important to watch out for pedestrians than lights, because there are a lot of jaywalkers in New York."
Mr. White, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, a pedestrian and bike advocacy group, was loping down Mott Street in Soho in a cold January drizzle on a single-speed 1971 Schwinn, weaving in between cars trying to find their way onto the Williamsburg Bridge-a bakery van pulling suddenly over to the curb, a truck snorting forth.
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Once the domain of traffic nerds, congestion pricing has taken hold here recently like never before. Both the Partnership for New York City, a prominent group of business executives, and the Manhattan Institute, the conservative think tank, endorsed or re-endorsed it in December, joining a list of longstanding proponents such as the Regional Plan Association.