TSTC.org Would Be More Thankful If…

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s new Mobilizing the Region blog is really starting to come alive. If you haven’t added it to your daily news feed yet, it’s probably time to do it.

After giving thanks for the transportation policy advances of 2007 on Thursday, the TSTC staff, engorged with Tofurkey, went back to work on Friday and decided they’d be even more thankful if…

Congestion pricing opponents looked at the data instead of propagating myths.
When asked to back up assertions that congestion pricing will hurt
business, or that an alternative plan would do more to reduce traffic,
the best congestion pricing opponents can produce are slim,
un-footnoted reports premised on bad math and faulty assumptions. These
are, by and large, intelligent people who we happen to respectfully
disagree with. So why is it that so many of the reports backing up
their arguments wouldn’t pass muster in the average college class?

The MTA created a transit village program. MTA
representatives have said it’s too early for a transit village program
because transit-oriented development in the region is “at an embryonic
stage.” What we’ve seen on Long island and in the lower Hudson Valley
is plenty of smart projects completed and in planning, and a ton of
enthusiasm for smart growth. If that’s embryonic, it’s the most
precocious embryo we’ve ever seen.

The MTA enacted variable tolling on its bridges and tunnels.
Charging drivers more at peak hours has been proven to reduce peak-hour
congestion and is not a new concept. The Port Authority’s doing it. The
NJ Turnpike Authority is doing it. So, again… where’s the MTA?

The New York State Legislature stopped holding NYC back.
Congestion pricing. The solid waste management plan. Bus lane cameras
(and more red light cameras). All three would do wonders for New York
City, if only Albany would pass them.

The Sheridan Expressway was torn down and replaced with residences and parkland. Hopefuly
the long delay in the Bruckner-Sheridan Interchange environmental
review process is because NYSDOT has been giving hard thought to the
unconventional wisdom, as proven in Milwaukee and San Francisco, that
tearing down a highway can be a way to improve a community’s quality of
life — and won’t exacerbate traffic.

NYC got its parking policy straight. To its credit,
NYC replaced car parking with bike parking for the first time in its
history. But it also allowed the Yankees to build a stadium with more
parking than the old one (despite having less seats and a new
Metro-North station), and then tried to get NYSDEP to allow up to
40,000 more parking spaces in the far West Side. And the city would
gain a ton of street cred with advocates and the public if it would
only reform parking placard abuse.