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The Congestion Pricing Countdown

$354 million in immediate transit improvements and the long-term health of the New York regional transit system are at stake with one week left for the New York City Council and State Legislature to pass congestion pricing legislation.

Interested readers, please help out in any way you can: Testify or show support at a New York City Council public hearing on congestion pricing, scheduled for 6 pm today at the Council chambers at City Hall. Public sign-up begins at 5:30 pm. Call or e-mail your city councilmember and state legislators urging them to support congestion pricing, or thanking them for their support if they already do. NYC Councilmember contact information is available here. State Assemblymember contact information is here. State Senate contact information is here.

Earlier today, the City Council began a 10 am hearing on congestion pricing, with city officials, electeds, advocates, and others testifying. Gov. Paterson, who announced his support for congestion pricing on Friday, has submitted a congestion pricing bill to the State Legislature. This legislation was introduced in the State Senate today; pricing legislation has not yet been introduced in the State Assembly or City Council.

Port Authority Tolls a Congestion Pricing Preview?

New York City already has a modest form of congestion pricing: the Port Authority tolls, which are more expensive during peak hours. Early data on the Port Authority’s recent toll increases (which raised peak-hour tolls from $6 cash/$5 E-Z Pass to $8 for all car users and increased the difference between peak and off-peak tolls to $2) show that daily traffic volumes between 6 am and 6 pm have declined by 2.2% since the toll increase took effect on March 2.

New York State Supports Pricing

New York state voters support congestion pricing to pay for mass transit, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today – the first Quinnipiac poll to focus on congestion pricing opinion outside of NYC. The poll found 51%-43% support in “the suburbs” (Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, and Westchester counties) for a congestion pricing plan dedicated to funding mass transit, and 59%-26% support in upstate New York. Interestingly, the poll found 67%-27% support in NYC, 8 percentage points higher than in a poll released March 13. The increase in support may reflect the public outreach efforts of advocates and agency officials to list the specific transit improvements that would be funded by congestion pricing (in addition to Tri-State and RPA’s borough and regional fact sheets, the Campaign for New York’s Future now has fact sheets for individual City Council and State Legislative districts).

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