Streetsblog New York City

RE: News Needs Convincing That Broadway for Pedestrians Is a Good Idea

"It's counterintuitive: Close a thoroughfare and speed traffic."

It's not counter-intuitive if you give up the axiom that every vaguely north-south road in Manhattan must absolutely be a "thoroughfare".

How long do we have to wait before those tolls can be raised from $2 to an amount that will actually discourage toll shopping?

(How long do we have to wait before those tolls can be raised from $2 to an amount that will actually discourage toll shopping?)

That would be immediate. Eliminating toll shopping would require parity, but this would reduce the incentive. Perhaps parity could be provided for commercial traffic.

From what I read, the tolls would go to first to bridge maintenance, which is good. Hopefully all that debt service and ongoing maintenance would be covered. They might even paint the Brooklyn Bridge before it rusts away.

The lost revenue could be made up for by eliminating some of the service enhancements, with disappointed riders in "middle class" areas told that their representatives made sure there would be not additional funds for transit riders.

The problem -- the MTA has underestimated its financial problems again. You can imagine Brodsky and Weiner looking like heroes if Doomsday comes anyway. Then again, Weiner has an easier target to hit to prevent the collapse of the system -- enough additional federal money to allow the capital plan to be funded entirely with current dollars, rather than having the payroll tax borrowed against.

Andrea Peyser of the Post is definitely a few sandwiches short of a picnic.