Congestion Pricing
Streetsblog Basics
Congestion Commission Recommendation: First Look
Streetsblog has gotten hold of the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission recommendation, which should be voted on this hour. According to the version we have (pdf), the commission's alternative to Mayor Bloomberg's plan is expected to exceed the 6.3% VMT reduction required by the federal government, and raise an estimated $491 million per year for mass transit. Other details include:
January 31, 2008
Word on the Street: Pricing “Like Charging You to Breathe”
WNYC had a short piece on the upcoming congestion panel vote this morning. It's a series of "word on the street" comments. Some of them are funny, others not so much. The gist is that a lot of people still don't know -- or don't believe -- that pricing revenues will be invested in transit.
January 31, 2008
Pricing Recs to Include Residential Parking Permits
The Congestion Mitigation Commission will vote on a plan today at 3 p.m. A source who has seen the final draft of the Commission's report tells me that it includes the following recommendations:
January 31, 2008
Badda Bing! NYPD “Taking Care of” New Parking Placards
A commenter on Uncivilservants.org noticed that Mayor Bloomberg's attempt to reign in parking permit abuse is already being met with some good old-fashioned NYPD blowback:
January 30, 2008
Lew Fidler’s 9 CARAT STONE Plan Lives!
Move over, Ted Kheel. On the eve of the Congestion Mitigation Commission deadline to sign off on some form of congestion pricing, Lew Fidler tells the Observer he will introduce his own 9 CARAT STONE plan to his colleagues on the City Council tomorrow.
January 29, 2008
What Will It Take for Assemblyman Kellner to Vote for Pricing?
Two weeks ago, State Assemblyman Micah Kellner submitted a report to the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission [pdf] detailing his concerns about the two pricing plans in the TCMC's interim report. Kellner's district encompasses both of the congestion zone's proposed northern boundaries, running from 60th Street to about 90th Street, and from 3rd Avenue to the East River, including Roosevelt Island. He has consistently said that he and his constituents support "the concept of congestion pricing," while objecting to several of the specifics in the actual plans.
January 28, 2008
Kheel Plan Getting Lots of Play, Except Where It Counts
With Michael Bloomberg expressing doubts about an apparently favored proposal to move the congestion pricing boundary south to 60th Street, Newsday columnist Ellis Henican challenged the mayor yesterday to get behind the Kheel free transit plan.
January 28, 2008
Kheel Planners Detail Free Transit Proposal
Yesterday, Theodore "Ted" Kheel's traffic plan was officially unveiled with a 52-page report (pdf) outlining his proposal to make transit free via a round-the-clock $16 congestion charge for cars ($32 for trucks) entering Manhattan below 60th Street. The report says Kheel's "Bolder Plan" would cut CBD traffic by 25 percent, and traffic citywide by nearly 10 percent, all while increasing mass transit funding and decreasing the number of overcrowded trains and buses.
January 25, 2008
Proof That Congestion Pricing Supporters Do Exist in Queens
Transportation Alternatives Queens Committee Chair Mike Heffron sends along this report from last night's traffic commission hearing at York College in Jamaica, Queens.
January 25, 2008