Congestion Pricing

State Senator-Elect Dan Squadron, whose district includes lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, released a statement this afternoon [PDF] in response to the MTA's approval of its doomsday budget. Taking a different tack than fellow Chuck Schumer protegé Anthony Weiner, Squadron lays some responsibility for the health of our transit system at the feet of the state legislature:

Channel 13 is promoting tonight's episode of "New York Voices" with an online poll asking, "Should there be tolls on the East River Bridges?" I don't know. Should motorists get a free ride into Manhattan while subway riders face massive fare increases? What do you think?

Today Ted Kheel released a revised version of his plan to fund transit through a congestion pricing mechanism on motor vehicle traffic. Streetsblog spoke to one of Kheel's lead analysts, Charles Komanoff, about the updated plan (see the major components here) and why he believes it offers a more comprehensive answer to New York City's transportation problems than the MTA rescue package unveiled by the Ravitch Commission last week. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Brad hit the major points from today's Ravitch/Paterson/Bloomberg press conference. Here are some more details on the MTA rescue plan they unveiled. (The whole Ravitch Commission report is available as a PDF.)

Rhetorically speaking, it's often easier to be against something than to stand in support of it. This could be why, with one or two possible exceptions, the political players in the MTA "doomsday" drama have so far gained the most media attention by, say, shouting down bridge tolls (Yay!) or getting a shoe shine (Boo!). Some prominent electeds, despite the grave importance of the issue at hand, have to this point largely stayed out of it -- even those who, when they had congestion pricing to kick around, could scarcely be found without a microphone or camera in spittling distance.

New Yorkers can expect more misery on the streets as well as underground if the MTA has to follow through on the austerity measures it unveiled yesterday. The transportation analysts behind the Kheel Plan -- the congestion pricing variant that balances higher driver fees with free transit -- calculate that the likely combination of service cuts and higher fares and tolls will put tens of thousands more cars on the road:

In today's Times, Richard Brodsky weighs in on the pitfalls of shortchanging capital needs in the face of the immediate MTA budget crisis.

The crack news team at Fox 5 has gotten to the root of the MTA's financial troubles: Chief Lee Sander's commuting habits.

Make drivers chip in for transit? OMG, right?