Mayor: Transit would improve with congestion pricing

BY JENNIFER BARRIOS | jennifer.barrios@newsday.com

March 24, 2008

Perhaps buoyed by Gov. David A. Paterson's endorsement of congestion pricing for the city, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took to the airwaves Sunday, devoting his weekly radio address to the subject.

In the short address, Bloomberg reiterated the something-for-everyone projects that would come from federal funds granted to the city if congestion pricing were approved.

In Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island, some buses would be outfitted with devices that signal to certain traffic lights to stay green as the buses approach. In the Bronx, Bloomberg called for "one-seat rides" for bus commuters traveling over the Throgs Neck Bridge to lower Manhattan. Currently, he said, such commuters must transfer from the bus to the subway.

And service on the E, F, C and No. 1 trains would be improved.

"But we'll only get the money for those projects if congestion pricing is approved," Bloomberg said in his address. Approval needs to come from the New York State Legislature as well as the City Council.

If a congestion-pricing plan goes through, the city would stand to receive $354 million in federal funds for such public-transit improvements.

Congestion pricing in the city received a boost last week after Paterson announced his support of a plan recommended by the state Traffic Mitigation Commission.

That plan, which would be in effect on most weekdays between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., calls for drivers with E-ZPass who enter Manhattan south of 60th Street to pay an $8 surcharge.