Streetsblog's Ben Fried reports live from this morning's City Council congestion pricing hearing:
DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan is set to deliver testimony to the City Council Committee on State and Federal Legislation. Streetsblog got a copy of her prepared remarks, which include a few new pieces of information:
- "The City is developing a way to obtain an EZPass via cash payment, so that option will not be limited to those with credit cards or bank accounts." Also, "the City is working on ways to ease the financial burden on low-income drivers."
- The plan on the table requires only 25 cameras, compared to 300 that would have been necessary under the mayor's plan.
- "We agree that more revenue from Port Authority tolls should be devoted to mass transit in the city." But even without altering the current proposal, "two-thirds of Holland and Lincoln Tunnel drivers will pay some or all of the congestion pricing fee. Revenue from these drivers will amount to $45 million a year, or 10% of total gross congestion pricing revenues."
The commissioner's remarks go on to address the Port Authority issue more fully:
There are still some questions to resolve on the issue of a greater Port Authority contribution to transit in New York. There is a legal issue with charging different prices to different groups of people, there is a political issue, because the Port Authority is a bi-state agency, and there is the policy question -- can the Port Authority again support the MTA capital program? It participated in the first MTA rebuilding program, from 1982-1986.
