The alternative route: Smart city strategies when pricing is no longer an option

Cities worldwide are at a crossroads, grappling with escalating traffic congestion, an alarming rise in serious and fatal crashes, mounting emissions and persistent transportation inequities. Despite such challenges, there is a growing trend toward cities seeking bold solutions, such as New York City’s adoption of roadway pricing in early 2025. While congestion pricing has demonstrated positive outcomes in these critical areas, its implementation isn't universally feasible to every jurisdiction due to regulatory hurdles, political landscapes, geographical constraints or technical and financial limitations.

That doesn’t mean cities are out of options. Even without congestion pricing, cities can address these pressing traffic issues through attainable policies and practical technologies. New York’s journey reveals both the promise and complexity of pricing-based strategies. Yet there are impactful steps that urban centers can take immediately to reduce traffic, improve safety and build support for longer-term reforms.

Dynamic Curb Management: Reclaiming a Vital Urban Asset

One of the most potent, yet often underutilized, pricing tools already at every major city's disposal is curb management. The urban curb has transformed into one of the most fiercely contested spaces, squeezed by the demands of rideshare services, delivery vehicles and personal vehicle parking. When curbs are poorly managed or mispriced, the result is double parking, unsafe bike lanes and inefficient use of right-of-way, among other issues.

Dynamic curb pricing and real-time allocation can dramatically improve this situation. By using variable pricing to reflect demand and reserving zones for specific uses at certain times, cities can restore order and optimize traffic flow. Examples include flexible pricing for loading zones, priority access for deliveries during peak times, designated areas for pickup and dropoff, and daylighting intersections for safety.

Tools exist today to implement these strategies quickly through software-as-a-service platforms. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, for instance, uses data analytics to guide its dynamic curb pricing and allocation policies. It also reduces curb space in targeted areas to improve visibility and protect pedestrians and cyclists — while ensuring this data is available to private operators via open data practices.

 Unlocking Efficiency Through Cross-Sector Data Coordination

 Achieving smart, equitable and sustainable transportation systems depends on seamless data coordination between public agencies and private entities. Governments manage infrastructure and operational data, while companies like navigation apps, rideshare services and connected vehicle manufacturers collect real-time behavioral data.

True interoperability enables the fusion of disparate information between sectors, paving the way for comprehensive traffic monitoring, predictive analytics and adaptive management strategies. An integrated data approach empowers better decision-making to optimize traffic flow, curtail congestion and emissions, accelerate incident and event response, and, ultimately, enhance the travel experience for everyone.

This approach also strengthens curb management. By collaborating with private parking operators, cities can map parking demand and manage inventory across neighborhoods. Nashville, Tennessee, offers a great example: As the Tennessee Titans redevelop their stadium within the lot of the existing stadium, the city is using aggregated private parking data to understand game-day demand patterns and implement dynamic crowd dispersal strategies.

Signal timing optimization offers another major opportunity for cities, many of which still rely on outdated signal plans misaligned with current multimodal needs. Modern operations use near real-time traffic data to adjust operations, reducing delays and emissions. In Texas, the North Central Texas Council of Governments brings together 169 agencies to adopt shared signal performance metrics, enhancing regional coordination and user experience across jurisdictions.

Moreover, cities need tools to manage the ever-changing “rules of the road.” While navigation apps help with routing, they often lack access to precise information about construction, events or temporary closures. Tools built around the Open Mobility Foundation’s Mobility Data Specification, or MDS, are changing this. Initially used to regulate shared micromobility, MDS is now being applied more broadly to travel lanes. In Philadelphia, agency staff update road rules — such as construction zones, new parking regulations, or parade routes — in real time. These changes are communicated to the public and private operators, ensuring safer, more coordinated use of the right-of-way.