How NYC Govt. Causes Its Own Traffic Jams

From an article in today’s N.Y. Times about Manhattan’s eternal congestion woes: 35.1% of government workers drive to work instead of taking public transportation, second only to workers in “transportation, warehousing and utilities,” at 36.1%. Comparatively, only 15.1% of workers in the retail trade drive into the city, and 14% of finance workers.

Now these numbers are not nearly as pure as they might appear, for they don’t take into account the fact that a lot of finance workers, e.g., already live in Manhattan, or in suburbs well-served by commuter train lines.

Still, it seems unusual that more than a third of all government workers drive into the city, an even higher percentage than construction workers. So why is that?

According to the article, the government workers have a very simple and powerful incentive: “because they have free parking.”