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.

This afternoon, the state’s Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission
will likely endorse some variation of [Bloomberg’s congestion pricing] plan. Then, the City Council
takes up the issue, followed by the state legislature, where opposition
is strong.

Over the past week, WNYC’s Matthew Schuerman has been
talking to New Yorkers in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. He found that
one of Bloomberg’s main arguments isn’t getting through.

Listen for the driver who doesn’t like the smell of other people. 

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

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: Congestion pricing revenue goes directly to the MTA. A residential parking permit program with revenues going towards funding streetscape improvements and bike […]

Congestion Pricing Commission’s First Meeting

|
From Crain’s Insider: The Congestion Pricing Commission will meet for the first time next week, bringing together the 17 people who must choose between Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s traffic mitigation plan and some other program. To qualify for a $354.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, a plan must involve a pricing component and […]

August 1: The Mayor Shall Submit the Traffic Mitigation Plan

|
A couple of weeks ago Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Spitzer, Senate Leader Bruno and Assembly Speaker Silver agreed to a process that would lead to the formation of a 17-member commission that would evaluate and decide on New York City’s congestion pricing proposal. The deal laid out a very specific timeline by which the process would […]

Gerson: Proposed Pricing Plan Misses the Mark

|
Council Member Alan Gerson says the congestion pricing plan ignores the car-choked Canal Street corridor Yesterday we noted that District 1 City Council Member Alan Gerson was the only Manhattan representative to indicate that he would vote against the congestion pricing plan in its current form, according to an "unofficial roll call" conducted by the […]

Senator Krueger “Extremely Disturbed” by Pricing Hearing Schedule

|
A constituent letter from State Senator Liz Krueger, representing the East Side and Midtown in the 26th District: Dear Friend: I am writing you because you have previously contacted me regarding Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC and the Congestion Pricing Plan. I have just been informed that the New York City Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission has scheduled […]