Tuesday’s Headlines: Sorry, Rodneyse, But Congestion Pricing is Passing Edition

The story of the day was Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s announcement that he had lined up enough votes to pass Gov. Cuomo’s congestion pricing plan to raise billions for the subway system (sorry, Assenbly Member Bichotte). Streetsblog played it straight, as did NY1, the NY Post, the NY Daily News and amNY. Meanwhile, the Times put a broadly historic spin on it (hey, we used “historic” in the lede, too!). And the Wall Street Journal looked at the broader economic impact congestion pricing might have.

The mayor will be in Albany on Tuesday, presumably pushing the plan.

And now the rest of the news:

• Speaker Corey Johnson leaked his bus rider survey results to NY1 rather than to Streetsblog — but maybe because the “news” was very much “olds”: Bus riders are disappointed. Very disappointed. Only six percent said they were satisfied (who are those six percent? Are they all named Job?). The NYDN‘s Clayton Guse focused on subway riders (only three percent of them are satisfied).
• Meanwhile, the MTA claims that 20 percent of bus riders are evading the fare. Well, of course no one’s paying the fare — didn’t anyone read Corey Johnson’s report? (amNY). Double-duty Guse also played up the one-in-five number (NYDN). So did Nolan Hicks at the NY Post. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal and Politico focused on NYC Transit President Andy Byford’s call for cops on buses to enforce fare beating. Hmm, we wonder what routes the NYPD will focus on (anyone see that old Stop-and-Frisk patrol guide lying around anywhere…).
• Hard-working Hicks also punched out a story about declining subway ridership, despite improving service. (NY Post)
• We spotted Jessie Singer’s tweet on Monday morning when the MTA decided that rush hour was the perfect time to paint a subway station. The agency later admitted its foolishness — and Gothamist turned into a story.
• Cop chase mayhem in the Bronx injures six. (amNY)