Traffic manager president edition metro getting stuck
But if Cuomo’s people just sit on their hands, they’re courting disaster.” Congestion pricing can turn that around and put the city in a much better position to recover.
#Traffic manager president edition metro getting stuck full#
“Traffic is coming back with a vengeance, even though we’re nowhere close to a full ‘reopening.’ Bus speeds have plummeted since the pandemic peak, when traffic was much lighter. Cuomo and his team on this,” said TransitCenter Communications Director Ben Fried. “New Yorkers need a heightened sense of urgency from Gov. The governor has been a missing piece in this equation, even as advocates say that the one man who has been compared to the Tom Brady of politics can lead the congestion pricing team to a badly-needed score. He basically said right now yes but we’ll need the money down road because it’s a big part of the capital plan. I’m not saying that there’s no work that has to be done here with the EA, but … that the process could be relatively stripped down.”īob Foran was asked with CP not yet in place, can you go forward with capital plan. “The starting gate opened up on March 30, almost three months ago. “There’s no reason that preparing the environmental assessment should be taking very much time,” said traffic analyst and activist Charles Komanoff, who’s analyzed and advocated for the benefits of the traffic toll. Additionally, MTA Senior Advisor Ken Lovett tweeted that Foran was referring more to the immediacy around the idea of needing something at a moment in time.īut veterans of the fight for congestion pricing were not amused. “So we’re not in a position now to really be needing absolutely at this point in time, the congestion pricing proceeds for the capital program.”įoran went on to say that presumptive incoming CEO Janno Lieber had contracts lined up and ready to go and that the MTA was “looking forward” to getting congestion pricing cash. “Right now, we’re fronting the capital program with the sales tax monies and the mansion tax monies that we have,” said Foran, referring to much smaller revenue streams. The agency, he claimed, is not hard up for the literal billion dollars of revenue - bondable to $15 billion! - that congestion pricing would provide for the MTA’s shredded capital program. And in a concerning turn on Wednesday, MTA Chief Financial Officer Bob Foran told the MTA Board that there isn’t a glaring need to get congestion pricing rolling anyway. But on March 30, President Biden gave the agency the OK to ink its rubber stamp, which is supposed to take three months.
Cuomo is in no rush to implement congestion pricing.įor two years, the governor had a convenient stalking horse for why congestion pricing wasn’t going anywhere: then-President Trump, who refused to let the MTA begin the required environmental review of the central business tolling.