Home MTA EconomicsDoomsday Budget Five Dems threaten to quash toll plan

Five Dems threaten to quash toll plan

by Benjamin Kabak

Today’s New York Times featured a story on the rising number of transit riders across the nation. When gas prices hit record highs last year, transit ridership peaked, and commuters found that leaving the car at home was both better on the wallet and less stressful.

It is, then, the perfect time for New York State to invest in transit. The City — already dependent upon its transit network — needs to ensure its system is in good repair. It needs to ensure that trains run frequently and reliably for a relatively low cost. What it doesn’t need are fictionally free bridges that serve a tiny minority of Upper-Middle class commuters.

To that end, then it is dismaying that now five state Democrats are willing to let the MTA ballout plan die. Brendan Scott, a correspondent for The Post, reports:

Unless five Democratic state senators can be convinced to change their minds, the plan to bail out the MTA by imposing tolls on East and Harlem river bridges is dead in the water, a Post survey has revealed.

The holdouts say the $2 toll proposal, the key element of the plan proposed by former MTA head Richard Ravitch, would unfairly hit outer-borough residents without access to mass transit. “If it’s 1 cent, I’m against it,” said state Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn). The others who have ruled out tolls are Carl Charger of Brooklyn, and Ruben Diaz Sr., Pedro Espada Jr. and Ruth Hassle-Thompson, all of The Bronx.

They vowed to block any tolls, even if that pushes talks past the MTA’s March 25 deadline for fare hikes and services cuts.

These State Senators do not understand simple numbers. Far more people rely on the MTA than drive. Far more people — the entire region, in fact — rely on a healthy MTA to get them to work. Far more people stand to lose out if a $2 toll — matched the cost of transit — is instituted on bridges connecting Manhattan with the rest of the world. If only these representatives knew that driving isn’t free, and free driving isn’t some sacred right protected by some higher authority.

The editorial page of The Daily News gets it. Relying on the Tri-State Transportation Campaign numbers, an oft-cited resource here at Second Ave. Sagas, they urge Malcolm Smith to rein in his party rebels:

Fewer than 4% of Espada’s constituents drive to Manhattan, two-thirds use mass transit and more than 70% of households have no car. His people face subway reductions on the 1, 4, B and D lines. The Bx20, Bx34 and X28 buses would disappear, along with night service on the Bx10.

Only 5% of the commuters in Diaz’s district drive to Manhattan, and about 60% use transit. They’d see crowding on the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 subway lines. The Bx4, Bx14 and Bx28 buses would be wiped out.

About 5% of Kruger’s constituents drive to Manhattan; 10 times as many use transit. They’d get longer waits on the B, D, F, N and Q lines and elimination of weekend or night service on the B2, B4, B7, B31 and B64.

Espada, Diaz and Kruger are threatening the well-being not only of their constituents, but of everyone who rides subways and buses. Smith must make that clear in private and, if necessary, in public. He must win.

That unequivocally says it all. I am not, however, too optimistic any longer.

You may also like

15 comments

Jason March 9, 2009 - 1:51 pm

This is absurd! How can these five jack-asses get away with derailing this much-needed budget? How can they be so blatantly against funding mass transit by any means necessary while still touting their stale line that tolls will affect the outer-boros? The numbers don’t lie; If only 5% will be affected, they can easily drive to their nearest station, park, and then ride. Still only cost $2 either way.

We need to revolt against these so-called leaders who do not represent the masses. If they worried about the 5% getting working up over tolls, wait till the remaining 95% start to bug out. This city and region can not function without properly funded and maintained mass transit.

Reply
Lex March 9, 2009 - 3:50 pm

I just emailed the Post article and the quote to the Co-op City Times. Ruth Hassel-Thompson is messing with fire. Almost every other resident here has a car but doesn’t use it daily. We reply almost completely on mass transit. And our bus lines are some of the most used in the entire city. So I hope that this gets major press in the area. Unfortunately if i tried blogging this, no one would visit the page and i would rather not try to make miracles.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I hope I can get 55 thousand people to rally against her. (that’s our population)

Reply
jk March 9, 2009 - 3:52 pm

Can someone explain the logic of a toll on this sleepy neighborhood bridge? Yes, it crosses the Harlem River but give me a break. There is more logic in putting a toll on the Koskiuscko Bridge on the BQE.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.....omboat.JPG

Reply
Cap'n Transit March 9, 2009 - 5:10 pm

The logic is simple, JK:

(a) Someone has to pay for the bridge – and lift bridges require extra maintenance. Right now it’s you and me the income and sales taxpayers. That’s money that can’t be spent on buses and trains.
(b) Right now the Henry Hudson Bridge is underused, and Broadway is overused. How sleepy is 40,000 cars a day? If there were a toll on the Broadway bridge, a lot of people would drive on the West Side Highway instead of on neighborhood streets.

Reply
jk March 9, 2009 - 6:03 pm

Someone has to pay for the BQE, so why not put a toll on the Koskiusko Bridge?

Reply
Benjamin Kabak March 9, 2009 - 6:04 pm

You’re not going to find much of a counterargument there. Why not toll the Kosciuszko Bridge?

Reply
jk March 9, 2009 - 6:30 pm

This is what burns me. No toll on a major bridge on a major interstate while people try to make the case for a $2 toll on the puny Broadway Bridge.

Cap'n Transit March 9, 2009 - 5:13 pm

Also: if you didn’t toll all the bridges, people from Westchester would find the “free” bridges, no matter how small. Congestion pricing would have just charged them at 86th or 60th Street, but nobody’s talking about that now.

Reply
John March 9, 2009 - 4:57 pm

Can you post contact info for these senators so people reading this can easily contact them to voice our opinions?

Reply
Cap'n Transit March 9, 2009 - 5:14 pm

You can use this to contact your senator, John:

http://ga3.org/campaign/amigos/

Contact info for other senators is here:

http://senate.state.ny.us/sena.....s?OpenForm

Reply
Benjamin Kabak March 9, 2009 - 5:17 pm

Great idea, John. Check out this post for all of the relevant contact info:

http://bkabak.wpengine.com/200.....hold-outs/

Reply
Ray March 9, 2009 - 5:13 pm

These guys clearly are playing a no-consequences game. They trip up the Ravitch plan and everyone pays with higher fares. I’ve said it before, I’d be willing to pay more for my daily four stop ride in Manhattan. Its unconscionable that autos are allowed into the CBD without paying a toll.

Reply
Contact the five Democratic toll hold-outs :: Second Ave. Sagas | A New York City Subway Blog March 9, 2009 - 5:16 pm

[…] « Five Dems threaten to quash toll plan Mar […]

Reply
peter knox March 9, 2009 - 7:09 pm

Does it make any sense that they are spending billions to expand a system that they can’t maintain now without soaking innocent citizens to prevent fare hikes and service cuts? Where is the logic?

Reply
Assembly rep re-writes history to bash MTA :: Second Ave. Sagas | A New York City Subway Blog January 4, 2010 - 4:29 pm

[…] in the State Senate to approve bridge tolls for New York City. Lest we forget, five State Senators quashed the toll plan in March and proposed the current funding plans a week later. The MTA would gladly have accepted tolls but […]

Reply

Leave a Comment