Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Economics

The Biggest Fare Hike Factor? It Could Be MTA Debt

By Ben Fried | Jul 28, 2008 | 8 Comments

Saturday’s Times delved into the history of the MTA’s mounting debt burden, which, along with rising fuel costs and plummeting revenues from the real estate transactions tax, has severely squeezed the authority’s finances: Debt payments are the system’s largest single cost after payroll, and by 2012 they will account for one of every five dollars […]

$36,000,000,000 for Corn. $0 for Transit.

By Aaron Naparstek | Jul 25, 2008 | 16 Comments

The House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would provide emergency funding to local transit systems facing simultaneous increases in ridership and fuel costs. The legislation is now stalled in the Senate and the Bush Administration has expressed concern that "transit operators risk becoming permanently reliant upon this type of assistance." Meanwhile, when it […]

The Pentagon Burns 395,000 Barrels of Oil Per Day

By Aaron Naparstek | Jul 25, 2008 | 6 Comments

It’s always a bit of a mind-boggler when some statistics emerge showing how much oil the U.S. military consumes. From yesterday’s Politico: So, you think you’ve got the gas prices blues. Just consider Al Shaffer, the man in charge of drafting an energy strategy for the gas-guzzling Pentagon. With wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and […]

Livable Streets Projects Getting Hung Up in Budget Bureaucracy?

By Aaron Naparstek | Jul 23, 2008 | 2 Comments

From today’s Crain’s Insider: The city is weighing a new set of street design guidelines that would make installation of pedestrian-friendly elements, like curb extensions, easier. The Department of Transportation has developed a number of new street and traffic plans in Madison Square Park and other places around the city. But each one requires special […]

High Gas Prices Won’t Cure Gridlock

By Charles Komanoff | Jul 3, 2008 | 19 Comments

It’s the New Math: a dollar-a-trip rise in the cost of fuel for a car trip to Manhattan is cutting traffic almost as much as Mayor Bloomberg’s eight-dollar toll plan would have done. Too good to be true, right? But that’s the slant of the front-page headline in today’s Times, "Politics Failed, but Fuel Prices […]

Mixed Messages From Critic of NY Gas Tax Holiday

By Ben Fried | May 8, 2008 | 9 Comments

Following the lead of John McCain and Hillary Clinton, the State Senate voted yesterday to suspend New York’s gas tax for the summer. The move was largely symbolic, as the governor and Assembly speaker have both indicated they won’t support the bill. Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat from Manhattan, immediately issued a statement condemning the […]

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