Comments on: Ravitch: Plan not ‘separable recommendations’

By: Yanks back at the city’s stadium trough | River Avenue Blues

Yanks back at the city’s stadium trough | River Avenue Blues — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:37:15 +0000

[...] figures, but the fact remains the same. As services throughout the city — education, security and public transit — suffer, the taxpayers are yet again shouldering more of the burden of the stadium than we [...]

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:37:08 +0000

In France, and I think also in the New York area, they have barriers. Even drivers with E-ZPass (or its French equivalent) have to slow down slightly, until the system detects their card and lifts the barrier. In London and Singapore, there are no barriers, but there are cameras that automatically take a picture of the license plate if the card isn’t present; Israel’s sole toll road works entirely with photographing license plates.

By: Second Ave. Sagas | A New York City Subway Blog » Blog Archive » » The Ravitch Report: Where the papers stand

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:37:28 +0000

[...] that we’ve all had a weekend to digest the Ravitch Report, let’s check in with the prevailing opinion. How the wind blows in the pages of New [...]

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:48:45 +0000

As a NJ guy, I worry about the use of the E-ZPass toll collection procedure.

We were promised by Gov. Whitless, that the people who didn’t pay their tolls would pay for the system. I wonder how well the TA’s system will work. What if they are stuck with a lot of deadbeats.

By: Benjamin Kabak

Benjamin Kabak — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:37:28 +0000

No, it wouldn’t. The plan includes E-ZPass-only tolls with license plate cameras for those cars wthout E-ZPasses. This won’t significantly slow down traffic below the 30-mph New York City speed limit and shouldn’t lead to more traffic.

By: cmdrtebok

cmdrtebok — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:40:59 +0000

I live in Long Island City. Tolling the Queens Boro Bridge is going to create the worlds worst traffic jam in front of my building. I do not live inside Manhattan because I didn’t like the constant noise, not that LIC is quiet but its better. This is going to be a nightmare for the communities that exist around the east river crossings. We should have passed congestion pricing when we still had the chance.

By: Second Ave. Sagas | A New York City Subway Blog » Blog Archive » » What Ravitch hath wrought

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:07:39 +0000

[...] scenario hadn’t been this excited for a government report in ages. But now that we have all the details and a few supporters, the hard part — convincing both the properly suspicious and misguided skeptics — [...]

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:30:32 +0000

David Paterson’s acceptance of the proposal is encouraging. A few weeks ago he said tax increases would not be a good response to the recession and instead recommended spending reductions. That he supports this round of hikes shows a) that he is pragmatic and b) that he will support transit whatever it takes.

By: rhywun

rhywun — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:13:47 +0000

I’d like to see the MTA do some internal cost-cutting before these measures are put in place. Cut middle management, get some more productivity out of the TWU (i.e. no more track layers sitting around with nothing to do during rush hour), that sort of thing. It would also be helpful if they’re not cooking their books this time around.

By: Alfred Beech

Alfred Beech — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:00:27 +0000

I like the idea of automatic fare increases to match inflation without review. Other mass transit organizations do that (TriMet in Portland), and I think it makes sense.

Where does this new plan leave the MTA? They have to produce a new budget in a couple weeks. Can they count on these changes happening, or have to stick to their doomsday predictions and cuts?