From The Mayor's Desk ...
Say "Yes" To Congestion Pricing

Tomorrow morning, tens of thousands of New Yorkers will end the work week with a long bus ride to a ferry station or subway stop, and then transfer there to continue traveling to jobs in Manhattan. That kind of commuting can be tedious and time-consuming - and last week we previewed ways that, with help from Washing-ton, we can make getting to work faster and easier for New Yorkers who don't have a lot of other commuting options.

Federal funding is key - because without it, there's just no way to pay for the projects I'm about to describe. Thankfully, the U.S. Department of Transportation has pledged $354 million to the City for such transit im-provements - if and only if our City Council and State Legislature approve a plan to set a congestion pricing fee for driving into the busiest parts of Manhattan during the busiest hours of the work week. And we already know how to use that money to do the most good - immediately.

We will, for example, make greater use of what's known as "transit signal priority." That's technology that equips buses to automatically send out infrared signals as they approach certain intersections, so that traffic lights can be ad-justed to speed bus travel. Using Fed-eral funds, we've already done a trial run of transit signal priority on bus routes to and from the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island.

The result: We've shaved commuting times on those routes by up to 17 percent. Now we'll use even more Federal funds to install this technology along Utica Avenue in Brooklyn, Union Street, Sutphin Boulevard, and Hillside Avenue in Queens, and Rich-mond Terrace on Staten Island. But we'll only get the money for those pro-jects if congestion pricing is approved. We've got other plans to improve transit service, too. Right now, for example, express buses from Throgs Neck in the Bronx make their last stop at 23rd Street in Manhattan; commuters going to jobs downtown face another half-hour subway ride.

Using Federal funds, we can provide them "one-seat" rides all the way to and from work. In fact, extra Fed-eral funds will allow the MTA to buy more than 300 buses for new local and express routes, and to expand service on existing routes.

It also will permit the MTA to in-crease service on the E,C,F, and Num-ber 1 subway lines. But to get those Federal dollars, we've got to enact con-gestion pricing first.

A critical part of the MTA's new five-year capital plan is at least $4.5 billion in funds that would be created by bonding out $500 million a year in congestion pricing fees.

Even with everything else we're do-ing, including eliminating about 30,000 free on-street parking placards, if we're going to improve commuting in New York City, we have to say "yes" to con-gestion pricing.