Why New York?

I had been to the United States twice before on holiday, in 2009 and 2017, and New York captivated me the most. It’s an incredibly fascinating, progressive and enchanting metropolis. New York has extreme drive. There are rats and mice, unbelievably old subways and bridges, litter—but also an enormous will to move things forward quickly, which can be hugely inspiring for us. New York is, of course, completely different from other American cities, but also from large Asian or European cities. It’s a true original. And right now, it’s tackling a range of interesting transport projects, including the introduction of congestion pricing for vehicles entering Manhattan. It seemed like the perfect choice. I worked for the non-profit organisation Regional Plan Association (RPA), where I knew a colleague and friend who helped arrange my placement. And my whole family could join me—my wife and our children, who are not yet in school. It all fell into place nicely.

What is transport in New York like? What struck you at first glance?

About 90% of people commute to Manhattan by public transport every day. Almost everyone uses it. And the reason is simple. New York has almost nine million inhabitants; Manhattan alone has around two million. It's incredibly dense, and roughly 20% of the entire 23-million-strong metropolitan region works on Manhattan. The number of commuters is enormous—and if everyone drove in during the morning peak, nobody would ever get to work.

New York also builds almost no new parking and is not required to. Manhattan introduced parking maximums back in 1982, which allow you to build at most 225 parking spaces for any new building, but you don’t have to build any at all. For example, One World Trade Center, a 500-metre-tall office tower, has 54 parking spaces. In Prague, it would need somewhere between 1,000 and 6,500 spaces—the equivalent of building 30 to 40 floors of garages and constructing entirely new road infrastructure to enable all those cars to arrive and leave. There are also minimum parking standards in the new mixed-use Hudson Yards district. The complex contains 16 skyscrapers and new public spaces, all served by a new subway station. The entire district is built, and will continue to be expanded, on top of a rail yard, leaving no room for parking.

In the Financial District, you will hardly see any private cars. Congestion occurs mainly in Midtown Manhattan, where the buildings are older. Traffic jams are caused by a mix of taxis, freight and private vehicles. Another typical feature of New York is that many people commute to Manhattan by taxi. After all, there's just nowhere to park. The very wealthy have drivers.

Cycling is also enjoying a surge in popularity. New bike lanes are frequently designed with a buffer of parked cars, or they take the place of a former car lane. The waterfront greenways in all boroughs are excellent; these combine cycle paths, promenades, sports grounds, playgrounds, restaurants and, importantly, coastal protection against rising sea levels. E-bikes have been allowed on cycle paths only since COVID-19, and given their numbers, the city is still figuring out how to manage them.

How is the subway doing?

The subway has been in operation since 1904, and this shows at times. Many structural elements have long passed their prime. The design of the tracks and stations is extremely simple; the aim was to build them quickly and in large numbers. The system includes both underground and elevated sections (roughly 40%). It has 472 stations and 28 different lines, with a total length of around 400 km. However, only about 150 stations are wheelchair accessible. Each day, around five million passengers ride the subway. During peak hours, trains run at intervals of 2 to 10 minutes. On paper, that sounds impressive—but then the weekend comes, and the reality looks completely different due to ongoing track and station repairs. Lines often change routes, skip stations, or experience major delays. But even on weekdays, the subway is unreliable. Switches fail, signalling breaks down, an ageing train gives up the ghost, or some security incident occurs. The number of disruptions is staggering.

For example, Line D had a reliability of only 65% in 2024, meaning 35% of trains were delayed in some way. Many things are repaired while the system is running, but even so, large parts of stations and tracks seem like a ticking time bomb. Some transfers between lines are truly dreadful; others, excellent. Here in Prague, we complain about a few buckets catching water dripping from the ceiling, but in New York, they hardly worry about water at all—when it really pours down, it basically just rains straight into some stations. But what else can they do, given the scale and age of the network?

Can Prague draw any inspiration from this?

Two examples come to mind. The New York subway is built in a utilitarian way; our stations are showcases of design and contain extensive underground complexes with various spatial arrangements. Perhaps we could build a little more efficiently here. The second example is more of a warning: when you build a lot of infrastructure—and this applies to road infrastructure as well—you need to maintain it properly, and that costs a great deal of money. The operator of the New York subway, the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority), consumes an enormous amount of money from both the city and state budgets.

The situation in Prague is different, but in some ways similar. In my view, the system used to fund transport is unsustainable in the long term, both here and in New York. In Prague, only about 12–15% of fare revenue returns to the system; in New York it was 42% in 2019 and only 25% in 2022. The system, however, requires extremely high investment costs, so the MTA is seeking additional sources of funding and trying to “crack down” on fare evaders.

Another source of funding for public transport is the congestion charge for entering the city centre. Manhattan introduced it on 5 January 2025. How have residents accepted it, and how does it work?

The so-called Congestion Relief Zone covers Manhattan south of 60th Street. Its aim is not only to regulate traffic and improve deliveries, but also to generate an estimated USD 15 billion per year for the MTA. Payment is made via E-ZPASS (a windshield-mounted tag) or by mail with an added surcharge. There are two tariff categories. A daytime tariff from 5 am to 9 pm (weekends from 9 am to 9 pm), and a cheaper evening tariff. Passenger cars pay USD 9 during the day and USD 2.25 at night; motorcycles USD 4.50 during the day and USD 1.05 at night; trucks USD 11.40 during the day and USD 3.60 at night. Uber-type taxis pay USD 1.50 per trip and “classic” yellow cabs USD 0.75 per trip. The system also includes tax credits for low-income New Yorkers and discounts for socially disadvantaged or disabled people from anywhere in the USA (from the 11th trip onward you pay only 50% of the peak-time price). Incidentally, New York introduced a congestion charge for taxis (yellow cabs and Uber-type vehicles) south of 96th Street back in 2019. Besides generating approx. USD 360 million per year, it also provided valuable data on traffic patterns on Manhattan, which the city analyses regularly. Passengers travelling by taxi south of 60th Street thus now pay two types of charges to the city/MTA. And if you are coming from New Jersey or certain parts of New York, you must also add tolls for tunnels and some bridges.

New Yorkers generally accepted the introduction of the congestion charge well; the main opponents were residents of New Jersey. Early figures show an approx. 7% increase in weekday subway use and 6% for express buses. On weekends, increases are 12% for the subway and 21% for buses. Bus travel times in the first weeks of the year have so far improved by 1-10 minutes, with the biggest time savings for trips coming from New Jersey. In the first two weeks, the number of accidents dropped by 48% and accident-related injuries by 27%. Interestingly, New York had already introduced a citywide maximum speed limit of 40 km/h (25 mph) back in 2014 to reduce traffic injuries. What the new US administration will do with the congestion charge remains to be seen. President Trump has already said he would abolish it, even though he has no legal authority to do so, and his first attempt has already gone to court. Many legal cases have confirmed the legality of the congestion charge. However, he could cut off all federal funding, which would disrupt the budgets of both the city and the MTA.

How does the delivery of goods work in an overcrowded metropolis?

New York is only now introducing parcel lockers of the kind we know from Alza, Zásilkovna and similar services. What’s interesting is that this is being handled by the city, not by private companies. We'll see how it catches on. There are also smaller projects supporting off-hours delivery, meaning night-time deliveries outside peak hours. The city provides subsidies for the specialised equipment required for this. They have recently begun experimenting with micro-hubs for transferring goods onto cargo bikes, similar to the ones we have had for several years at Florenc and Anděl. But overall, deliveries are a major challenge, and many are hoping for improvements as a result of the congestion charge.

At weekends, certain streets are closed to traffic and turn into lively public spaces.

This project is called Open Streets, and since COVID it has operated citywide. Every weekend, many streets in various neighbourhoods are closed, cars disappear, and the streets fill with concerts, sports, seating and live art. Sometimes the events are organised by the communities themselves; other times by shop, bar or café owners. In any case, it’s enjoyable for everyone. Everything falls under the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT), which runs an organised programme that event organisers can apply to; NYC DOT then provides the necessary traffic signage. Compared to Prague, communities in New York are incredibly active and vocal when they want to achieve something, improve their city or move society forward. Here, communities usually form only when residents oppose something.

It’s a tough comparison to make, but let’s finish by looking at Prague and New York side by side.

New York, with almost nine million inhabitants, has one mayor, eight deputy mayors and 51 council members. These executive roles are complemented by five borough presidents, who serve as intermediaries between council members and local communities, and by Community Boards, i.e. unelected community representatives who comment on new projects and liaise with elected officials. Prague, with 1.3 million inhabitants, has 57 mayors, 191 + 11 councillors, and 1,121 + 65 assembly members. Our bureaucratic system is extraordinarily complex, which slows many processes down - and Prague, and by extension the entire Czech Republic, loses enormous amounts of taxpayers’ money because of it. New York, by contrast, displays exceptional decisiveness, operates with a clear citywide vision, and has a very, very efficient system of self-government. In Prague, we have adopted several strategic documents (the Strategic Plan, the Sustainable Mobility Plan, the Climate Plan), but they do not apply to the city districts, each of which prepares its own strategies, something that makes very little sense. On the other hand, the city is being suffocated by intense gentrification, and many families are moving to New Jersey. Public transport in Prague is clean, reliable and safe, and its infrastructure is in excellent condition. But depending on our ability—or inability—to act, and on the way the system is managed, this may not hold true in the future.

We could take inspiration from introducing congestion charging, reflect the real costs of the transport system, build more cycle lanes, plant more street trees, and stop being afraid of innovations, which too often get shut down here before they even begin. Perhaps nowhere in Western Europe, or even in New York, will you see as many cars parked on the street as in Prague. Overall, we are not doing badly at all, but we are slow, inflexible, and attached to old habits. A city must remain in motion, evolve, and adapt. The goal must always be a high quality of life and the satisfaction of its inhabitants.

Recording from the I Love New York discussion: