Drop in the Bucket

NJ Transit will be buying more bilevel cars for use on the Northeast Corridor, which is at or near capacity with the current train sets in use. The total purchase of cars will run about half a billion dollars.

It will be several years before those trains are all in the fleet and can carry passengers into Manhattan, which means if the congestion pricing tax gets implemented, those who would otherwise seek mass transit to avoid paying the tax will have no option but to pay it until more capacity is built.

Imagine how many more cars could have been bought had cost controls been enforced on the Secaucus Transfer white elephant. That train has long passes, and NJ commuters have to deal with the debt payments on that instead of getting improved service.

The New York State Senate has pitched a new plan to impose the congestion pricing tax. This is Albany we're talking about, which has never found a tax it didn't love to impose.

The state Senate pitched a new congestion pricing bill Friday that would give lawmakers more control over how the program works, but Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver remained adamant that his members will not vote on any proposal by Monday, when the city must finalize its bid for a federal grant to pay for the project.

"This is a bold, creative measure to alleviate a major problem and the Governor, Senate Minority and Assembly must step up and get it done," Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick) said in a statement about the new bill.

The Senate is scheduled to reconvene Monday in Albany at 2 p.m., and legislative sources said that it was "likely" the congestion-pricing bill would be considered, though not a certainty. At the same time, Silver (D-Manhattan) plans to meet with Assembly Democrats in Manhattan, making it impossible for him to convene the full body in Albany that day, a spokesman said.

One can only hope that the ongoing battles between Gov. Spitzer (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (R-Rensselaer), and Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver (D-Manhattan) will prevent action from being taken to impose the tax.

It's also nice to see counties adjacent to New York City starting to speak out against the congestion pricing tax because many constituents work in Manhattan and simply lack mass transit alternatives. Rockland County has limited mass transit options, with NJ Transit/Metro North trains running only from Suffern and Spring Valley. Bus options are only slightly better. They'd be hit with the congestion pricing tax for years before any mass transit alternatives are in place, if at all.

Of course Mayor Bloomberg (I-NYC) says that the tax will ultimately benefit Rockland commuters with new transit alternatives, but such promises often ring hollow and go unfulfilled.

Claims that tax revenue from congestion pricing will go to a new rail tunnel (THE Tunnel) from New Jersey into Midtown Manhattan doesn't ring true, as the financing has been set and planning is already underway. Indeed, the funding will come from the State of New Jersey, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Federal sources. The Port Authority and New Jersey have already committed billions to that project. Federal matching funds are also in the works, so congestion pricing will not change that situation.

The new rail tunnel will increase capacity, but it doesn't change where the rail lines go in Rockland or Orange Counties. The system is limited to the existing right of way, and opposition from local communities will prevent an expansion of the system to bring rail to additional communities. NIMBY will rear its ugly head - as it usually do, to stymie mass transit options.

Bus options to Manhattan from Rockland County exist, but the chief problem is that they are notoriously unreliable. Traffic jams can screw up the schedules and if the bus is unreliable in getting into Manhattan on time, people will chose other, more convenient options - namely driving.

To get this tax passed, Mayor Bloomberg is more than willing to negotiate every aspect of the congestion pricing scheme. Everything, from the border of the zone to the price may be up in the air. Of course, all that does is make it nearly impossible to determine whether the congestion pricing tax will be able to meet its fiscal and transit targets - reducing traffic and raising sufficient revenues for transit options.

The one thing spurring on the congestion pricing scheme is the possibility of getting federal money to help implement the thing.