Comments on: Albany’s Choice… or Ours

By: George Haikalis, President, Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, Inc.

George Haikalis, President, Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, Inc. — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:52:55 +0000

The Ravitch Commission unveiled its MTA financial rescue plan on December 2, 2008. It was enacted into law by the state legislature yesterday May 6, 2009. The plan raises some $1.9 billion per year in new revenues for MTA. I do believe that Governor David Paterson and Senator Majority Leader Malcom Smith deserve a lot of credit for pushing this through in a little over six months. This is lightening speed by Albany standards.

Of course, while I would dsiagree, the powers that be in Albany figured that riders would have to bear some of the pain -- thus the fare hike.

The plan puts MTA on a relatively stable footing for the next few years. The challenge now becomes for those of us who believe in sustainable transportation for the NY-NJ-CT area to make the case for FREE public transit paid for with cordon tolls at the Manhattan CBD and other charges to motorists, aimed at substantially reducing car use in the most crowded parts of the region that are already well-served by public transit.

By: J. Mork

J. Mork — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:42:57 +0000

Drivini -- that's "Drive to Work Day" -- June 1, 2009 -- the first day of the fare hike, to commemorate what happens if we listen to what the politicians are encouraging us to do.

By: The Great Drivini

The Great Drivini — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:26:26 +0000

What if a bunch of us transit, bike, foot commuters all decided to drive one day. (Of course we would all have to rent or borrow a car.) Congestion is one of those non-linear relationships. If we picked the right day and hour (non-holiday mid-week in the spring or fall, 6-7am), adding a relatively small number of cars to the normal traffic volumes could really slow things down. We could tip the scales more if we focused on one east river crossing like the brooklyn bridge. It would be an interesting experiment and potentially an important demonstration of the benefits of congestion pricing/reduced transit fares.

It would be like critical mass turned on its head.

By: Chris O'Leary

Chris O'Leary — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:09:36 +0000

A movement like this could be easily started by a group with a cache of knowledge about Albany and a visible spokesperson, like the Straphangers Campaign.

Of course, when the Straphangers (along with the Working Families Party) can't even organize to a couple hundred people to a rally in Union Square to stop the fare hike - weeks after the Doomsday deadline had passed, you wonder what the hell they're really good for.

By: fdr

fdr — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:34:52 +0000

Happy birthday to Ted Kheel, here's a Plan A 2.0: if he announces his candidacy on this platform he would get the publicity needed for this campaign, and maybe get someone else to run on it as a serious agenda. Or, he could acknowledge that he's too old to serve but promise to appoint Deputy Mayor Komanoff to follow through on it.