SAN FRANCISCO — Retailers here are worried the city is moving toward imposing fees on cars and trucks during peak-use hours to reduce traffic congestion and raise money for mass transit, a policy some fear would discourage shoppers.
San Francisco has received a $1.04 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration to identify traffic-clogged streets and examine how a toll system using a network of electronic scanners and/or cameras, could be deployed. The 18-to-24 month study is being augmented with $260,000 in local funding.
In applying for the grant, city officials cited Texas A&M University’s 2005 Urban Mobility Report, which ranked the San Francisco-Oakland metropolitan area second on a list of the 13 most traffic clogged major metropolitan regions, behind Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana. Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Houston were ranked third, fourth and fifth. The New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region was eleventh.
The congestion initiative is picking up steam as San Francisco’s economy finally shakes off the effects of the dot-com bust and 9/11 attacks. The turnaround is reflected in the Union Square retail district, where Bloomingdale’s is to open its first store here in the fall in the expanded Westfield San Francisco Centre. H&M and Forever 21 have opened, Juicy Couture is to open in August and Barneys New York is looking for space in the city. Neiman Marcus has expanded, and Nordstrom and Macy’s are sprucing up.
“Union Square is one of the most vital downtown shopping areas in the country, and we certainly wouldn’t want to do anything to discourage people from shopping there,” said Carol Piasante, vice president for communications for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. Chamber members include Macy’s, the Gap, Levi Strauss & Co., Neiman Marcus, Tiffany & Co. and Williams-Sonoma.
San Francisco, which is less than 50 square miles and has almost 800,000 people, is among the most densely populated U.S. cities. It has a mass transit system of subways, electric-powered buses and street cars — along with the cable cars that are mostly a tourist attraction. In addition, commuter trains, buses, ferries and the Bay Area Rapid Transit system transport people into and out of the city.
Related Articles
You May Also Like
The idea of charging tolls for cars and trucks to traverse the busiest city streets at peak travel times has met resistance in New York and Boston. But the policy has gained a foothold in London, as well as in Singapore and Stockholm, among other cities. In central London, officials said traffic has been cut by about 30 percent and an estimated $350 million has been raised since congestion pricing was introduced in February 2003. The maximum 8 pound surcharge, about $14.30 based on the current exchange rate, is in effect from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. A network of cameras keeps track of vehicles as they enter the congestion- designated zone. Fines for nonpayment start at the equivalent of about $90 and rise to as much as $268.
Many retailers say the peak-use fee, which covers shopping districts such as Bond Street, Oxford Street, Mayfair and Marylebone, has affected retail volume as much as it has vehicles. They have blamed the policy for a slump in the number of shoppers, which declined 14.6 percent in the central zone for the week beginning April 17, compared with the same period last year, according to retail monitor Footfall. Last September, department store chain John Lewis described congestion pricing as “damaging” to business at its Oxford Street store.
However, Jamie O’Hara, senior press officer for Transport for London, the municipal transportation agency, said retail fluctuation is attributable to other factors, such as the threat of terrorism, and distribution businesses have had improved productivity.
Despite the Texas A&M findings about San Francisco, Nathan Nayman, executive director of the Committee on Jobs, a coalition of the city’s biggest employers, including Levi Strauss, Gap Inc. and Wells Fargo, questioned whether there were chronic, serious traffic jams.
“The only congestion we happen to see are from cars leaving and entering the Bay Bridge,” Nayman said.
The bridge is undergoing a multiyear overhaul and half of it is being replaced.
Nayman suggested less drastic alternatives, such as boosting parking enforcement in the Union Square and financial districts and considering possible changes in how “truckers and others bring goods” into San Francisco.
“Let’s look at that as opposed to jumping into a program that seeks to justify the imposition of another fee that will drive more and more people out of the city,” Nayman said.
Union Square is an area where your luxury shopper and your value shopper are in the same market,” said Vikki Johnson, a local commercial real estate broker, who is concerned some shoppers might avoid downtown if they had to pay a congestion surcharge.
Tilly Chang, deputy director for planning for San Francisco’s Transportation Authority, declined to speculate about the study’s outcome.
“The idea is not to do this at any cost,” Chang said. “We will be looking at what is the need. There is congestion, although it wasn’t as bad as it was when we had the dot-com boom. What we’re saying is the economy’s on an upswing and now is a real prudent time to look at what will happen when the economy comes back full steam.”
Cities should be worried about the ripple effects of congestion, according to the Texas A&M report. The study estimated that in 1982 Americans spent an average of 16 hours a year stuck in peak-time traffic, compared with 47 hours in 2003, the latest year for which data is available. Wasted fuel in 2003 from rush-hour congestion was 2.3 billion gallons, up from 0.4 billion 21 years earlier.