New Low-Cost Transit Plan From Team Kheel-Komanoff

Ted Kheel and Charles Komanoff are out with an updated version of their plan to fund low-cost transit with congestion fees on cars and trucks. Coming hot on the heels of Kheel Plan II, the latest iteration — called Kheel-Komanoff — lowers the cordon tolls in a bid for political support but does not close the MTA’s budget deficit:

…the schedule of cordon entry fees in the Kheel II Plan, which tops out
at $25, appears too radical for the public to accept in one gulp. This
necessitates an “entry-level” congestion-toll proposal, one tailored to
be politically palatable while retaining the Kheel Plan essence of
combining a free or cheaper transit “carrot” with a congestion fee “stick.”

We have fashioned
such a plan. We call it the Kheel-Komanoff Plan to distinguish it from
the basic Kheel model of free or nearly-free public transit.
Kheel-Komanoff substitutes a $2 to $10 sliding toll scale for the $5 to
$25 tolls in Kheel II. It also reduces the 50% taxi surcharge to 33%
and trims the 25% rise in non-cordon bridge tolls to 20%.

More bullet points come after the jump. For the full pitch from Komanoff, head over to Grist.