Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission

Webster Avenue and Fordham Road, the Bronx

Deputy Commissioner Bruce Schaller's team at the Department of Transportation has been taking ideas offered up by Traffic Mitigation Commission members and running them through NYMTC's regional traffic model. Schaller's job is to help the Commission determine how effective each of these ideas will be in cutting traffic and reducing total vehicle miles traveled in New York City. To keep its $354.5 million federal transportation grant, the City must reduce VMT 6.3 percent using road pricing.

I'm not sure that this particular set of facts matters one bit to Traffic Mitigation Commission member Richard Brodsky, who claims to represent the little guy in the congestion pricing debate, but New York City's Independent Budget Office released a report today demolishing the argument that pricing is unfair to the poor and working class (download it here).

The Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission wants to reduce the size of the proposed congestion pricing zone, replace cameras with higher parking fees, and possibly toll the East River bridges, according to a (subscription only) story by Erik Engquist in Crain's New York Business today.

The third meeting of the 17-member Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission will be held at 2:00 this afternoon at the offices of Hughes Hubbard and Reed, 1 Battery Park Plaza (24 State St. @ Pearl St.), 10th Floor, in Manhattan.

In a letter to Marc Shaw, Chairman of the New York City Traffic Mitigation Commission, the New York Building Congress urged the Commission to support a congestion pricing plan that dedicates all revenues to capital improvements for the city's transit system. The NYBC also indicated their support for the MTA's propsed fare hike "as merely one element of a long-term multi-layered response to the considerable financial challenges faced by the MTA." Download the letter and here's an excerpt:

"Walking is Transportation" blogger Dan Icolari has extensive coverage of last night's seventh and final Traffic Mitigation Commission hearing on Staten Island. He reports "a notable unanimity" among Staten Island's elected representatives. "Even South Shore Republican Councilman Vincent Ignizio -- a reliable foe of government whose salary is paid by government -- said that despite great skepticism, he was determined to keep an open mind."

As if we didn't already know it, last week's Traffic Mitigation Commission hearings revealed that opposition to Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan among outer borough and suburban legislators may very well be intractable. Even in traffic-crushed districts where one would almost certainly find a majority in favor of some form of congestion pricing, we didn't see a single state legislator willing to stand up for the Mayor's plan. While support for congestion pricing was surprisingly strong among citizens and civic groups that showed up to testify, elected representatives' timidity was no surprise. As a Transport for London spokesman told me a while back, "If congestion pricing had to go through a legislative process it probably wouldn't have happened."

Council member Lew Fidler delivers his Tax & Tunnel plan to the Commission.