Hosted by the DSI Smart Cities Center

Speaker

Sam Schwartz Headshot

Sam Schwartz, Chair, Sam Schwartz Transportation Research Program, Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College; Founder Sam Schwartz Pedestrian Traffic Management Services; Former New York City Traffic Commissioner

Event Details

Wednesday, April 22, 2026 (10:00 AM – 11:30 PM)

Location: Davis Auditorium (CEPSR) – 4th Floor (Campus Level)
Address: 530 W 120th St, New York, NY 10027

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: The Columbia Morningside campus is open to the Columbia community. If you do not have an active CUID, the deadline to register is at 12:00 PM the day before the event.

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How Earth Day 1970 Led to Congestion Pricing in 2025 and Will Driverless Cars Upend Everything?

In 1970 President Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air Act that, for the first time, regulated mobile emissions i.e. motor vehicles. New York City and scores of other cities were found to be non-attainment zones.  The city responded with a plan to toll traffic on all entry points to Manhattan.  Lawsuits followed but environmentalists won every battle. The city was ordered by federal courts to implement the tolls by 1978.  Nothing could stop the program short of an Act of Congress.  Yep, that’s what happened!  Further attempts were made over the next 40 years-all failed. Why these plans failed will be discussed as well as why the latest plan succeeded.

But now the city is facing another challenge to managing traffic with the advent of driverless cars, taxis and trucks.  Schwartz will discuss the good, bad and ugly scenarios that could unfold and offer recommendation, not just for NYC, but for the country.

Bio

Sam Schwartz is the Chair and Founder of the Transportation Research Program at Roosevelt House at Hunter College. He was CEO of Sam Schwartz Engineering from 1995-2021.  He wrote a column on transportation for The New York Daily News from 1990 to 2022.  Previously Mr. Schwartz was New York City’s Traffic Commissioner and was the Chief Engineer of the NYC Department of Transportation. He started his transportation career in the late 1960’s as a NYC cabbie and joined the Traffic Department, as a junior engineer, in 1971.

Mr. Schwartz’s most recent books, No One at the Wheel: Driverless Cars and the Road of the Future (2018) and Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and The Fall of Cars (2015) lay out a recipe for cities faced with rapid changes in modes, automation, demographic shifts, and travelers’ preferences.  He has a novel, AutoKill, centered about autonomous vehicle technology, to be released in August.

Mr. Schwartz specializes in creative problem-solving for seemingly intractable situations. He is expert at getting people out of their cars and into other forms of transportation. He’s been called an Urban Alchemist for making grass grow from asphalt. Mr. Schwartz, often referred to by his nom de plume “Gridlock Sam,” released the word “gridlock” into the lexicon during the 1980 NYC Transit strike.

He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics at Brooklyn College and received a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a licensed Professional Engineer.