There may be hope after all!
Gov. David Paterson announced his support of Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan for NYC.
“Congestion pricing addresses two urgent concerns of the residents of new York City and its suburbs: The Need to reduce congestion on our streets and roads, and thereby reduce pollution, and the need to raise significant revenue for mass transit improvement,” Paterson said.” [Daily News]
Of course, it eventually turned into a bit of a political stroke job when Bloomberg (and other pols in support of congestion pricing) started saying things like “…Paterson has shown true leadership ability…” etc.
“Congestion Pricing addresses two urgent concerns of the residents of New York City and its suburbs: the need to reduce congestion on our streets and roads, and thereby reduce pollution and global warming; and the need to raise significant revenue for mass transit improvements. We expect that revenue from the Congestion Pricing plan will support more than $4.5 billion in needed capital improvements for mass transit and meaningfully reduce traffic into the Central Business District of Manhattan. Before the constructive process of deliberation proceeds in both the City Council and the State Legislature, transparency requires that the public fully see what the system envisioned by the Commission will entail. While Commission Report highlighted other issues which need to be resolved, introducing this bill allows the City Council and Legislature to examine the details of the proposal and make an informed judgment on the Congestion Pricing program.” – David Paterson
So it seems positive thus far. As long as everyone keeps their eyes on the ball, perhaps this wild idea stands a chance. I must say, the more times they can say the words “$____ for transit improvements…” on the record, the better. Then there will be less room for them to wiggle out of it once the city gets the federal funding.
SUBWAYblogger 
anyone got the link to this article?
please post it.
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Um, the congestion pricing is a terrible idea! They just want more money, it has nothing to do with environmental concerns. It affects people who commute and HAVE to get to work more than anyone.
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Sorry…totally forgot to put the link in the post. It’s in there now.
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Congestion pricing is an excellent idea. Get used to mass transit, and you wont have a problem. There’s no reason you cant.
And if you need your car that bad, all it will cost you is $8
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So you think that people WANT to drive in that traffic? That most of the traffic in Manhattan is people just driving for the fun of it and once they have to pay $8 they’ll stay home or take the subway? I think it’s just a matter of the city being over-populated. This mayor’s only solution for everything is to throw money at it.
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That’s because the only thing people ever respond to is money! If they have to fork out the cash every time, less and less will chose to do it.
Obviously, they dont want to drive in traffic, but they certainly arent going to stop just by being asked. And you cant force them to stop. So just make them pay, and watch things start to clear up.
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Listen to what you’re saying…People don’t like to drive in traffic but if they have to fork out cash they’ll do it less. Really? You think people choose to sit in that traffic and they only do it because it’s “free”? Have you heard how long it takes to drive around Manhattan? Do you think that the 8.5 million people in New York are going to stay home if they have to pay to drive? Get what I’m saying? There are 8.5 million people here! That equals congestion no matter what you charge people. You want congestion on the streets or in the subway? Doesn’t matter, you can’t make these people disappear.
No, people respond to solutions. Not all solutions have to be solved by making people pay fines and fees. This mayor is running the city like it’s a business and that doesn’t work with every situation.
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Yeah, Patrick has a point–congestion will just appear more on the subway or other forms of mass transit. How is that any better?
Many people drive to the city for work because they HAVE to, and they shouldn’t be slapped with a ridiculous $8 fee which will just add up over the months and years.
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