Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Bridge Tolls

Another Bad Transit Plan from the State Senate

By Ben Fried | Apr 21, 2009 | 17 Comments

So, just in time for Earth Day, the State Senate has proposed an MTA rescue plan that’s bad for both business and the environment. Here’s a refresher on the basics: The plan calls for an eight percent hike in transit fares and existing tolls, and a higher payroll tax (85 percent of the non-hike revenue […]

Senate Dems Release Another MTA Funding Plan Without Tolls

By Ben Fried | Apr 20, 2009 | 23 Comments

Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith has come out with another MTA funding proposal, which again gives commuters who drive across East and Harlem River bridges a free pass. The $1.76 billion it would generate annually for the MTA falls more than $300 million short of the projected revenue from the original Ravitch plan ($2.1 billion). […]

Needed: A Better Way to Sweeten the Ravitch Plan

By Charles Komanoff | Apr 16, 2009 | 26 Comments

Wondering how the revised version of the Ravitch plan compares to what’s come before? Here’s a look at the tweaks proposed yesterday by the Ravitch Commission: East and Harlem River bridge tolls of $2.16 each way with EZ Pass, $2.50 without. 50-cent taxi fare surcharge. A higher tax rate on parking in Manhattan. Revenue from […]

The Latest in Piecemeal Transit Funding

By Ben Fried | Apr 8, 2009 | 4 Comments

State legislators are about to head home for the Easter and Passover holiday, leaving transit riders to twist in the wind a while longer without an MTA funding plan in place. Martin Malave Dilan, chair of the State Senate’s transportation committee, gave Politicker’s Jimmy Vielkind one last debriefing before the legislative break: "We were really […]

Has John Liu Jumped the Shark on MTA Rescue?

By Brad Aaron | Apr 6, 2009 | 10 Comments

While his colleague from Brooklyn Bill de Blasio has given his blessing to tolls on East River bridges, Queens City Council Member John Liu — who, as of this writing, is running for city comptroller — seems to have officially joined the chorus of electeds who insist that the MTA’s dire financial straits constitute a […]

MTA Blame Game: The View from Staten Island

By Ben Fried | Apr 6, 2009 | 11 Comments

Here’s State Senator Andrew Lanza, a Staten Island Republican, explaining why he supports tolls on the East River bridges. For Staten Island drivers looking at a $3 hike in cash tolls to cross the Verrazano (or a $1.32 hike for locals with E-ZPass), the sight of other motorists getting a free pass into Manhattan must […]

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