Almost exactly a year ago, we reported some great news: that when congestion pricing started (remember, it was set to start on June 30), the MTA could raise the toll by up to 25 percent on the so-called "gridlock alert days."
The headline on Dave Colon's story captured how all fans of this city felt: "Dynamic! MTA Could Hike Congestion Pricing Toll 25% on Gridlock Alert Days."
And the story explained — again! — the toll that gridlock takes on our quality of life, on the livability of streets, on the businesses that rely on customers being able to get around quickly and efficiently. And it explained that such reasons were precisely why "dynamic pricing" is as good an idea for roads as it is for airline tickets or hotel rooms or anything else that changes in value depending on demand.
"I think it's a smart idea," former city Traffic Commissioner Sam Schwartz told us at the time. "It could make for a more dynamic system."
Schwartz also said that the 25-percent increase was a reasonable starting point for the proposal, and that over time the city and the MTA would learn how elastic the demand is for driving into the city on the gridlock days.
Well, apparently not. On Christmas Day, as we mentioned in yesterday's headlines, the Post repeated our year-old reporting and ginned up outrage about something that no one seemed all that outraged about a year ago.
We don't mind when other reporters crib our coverage — the more the merrier, we always say. But we do mind when politicians — who put in place the policies in question — suddenly act like they've been caught just because the Murdochs decide that it is unfair to charge drivers to congest the city (and delay other drivers) during the most congested days of the year.
So we definitely mind that Gov. Hochul picked up the Post and immediately rescinded the policy, the tabloid reported. She's made a habit of relieving drivers of paying their fair share or the pollution, congestion and road violence they cause, first dropping the proposed $15 toll to $9, and now eliminating the dynamic pricing that bothered no one until the Post discovered our year-old story.
For her part, Hochul is so all over the place that it's impossible to take her seriously. "Hardworking New Yorkers deserve a break, which is why I fought to cut the congestion pricing toll by 40 percent,” she told the Post.
“This will reduce traffic in Manhattan and fund long-overdue investments in public transit, while keeping costs lower for New Yorkers who drive into the city,” she added in a statement to The Post. “[But] under no circumstances will I allow this discretionary 25-percent surcharge on gridlock days to be used.”
So which is it, governor? Do you support fighting gridlock or not? Do you want to boost transit so that drivers have better, cheaper options than fuel-burning, wealth-sapping cars?
We honestly don't know, given that in another act this week, Hochul signed a bill to charge oil and gas companies $75 billion over the next two decades for their role in global warming, the Post, Gothamist and the Times reported. Again, we're confused: the governor is OK charging oil companies billions for their role in climate change, but she's not OK charging drivers a few pennies for theirs?
The governor's whirling dervish act came on the heels of her failing to drag Carl Heastie and Andrea Stewart-Cousins to the Governor's mansion for a sit-down over their failure to support the MTA's capital plan, which we explored yesterday, in case you missed it (and amNY also covered).
The plan was poised to start on Jan. 1, but the governor now appears content to just battle it all out in the budget process in the spring. So the millions of daily bus and train riders can, apparently, just wait.
In other news:
- Speaking of the MTA capital plan, amNY did a separate on Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's latest audit on the agency's alleged procurement issues. And Our Town reminded us that capital money for subway improvements actually lead to ... subway improvements.
- The seven people injured by that taxi driver in Midtown were all tourists. All the papers reported that the driver had a "medical episode," which reminds us to tell Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch that her public information office has to stop routinely citing a "medical episode" rather than confirming what is more often than not the truth: that a driver operated the motor vehicle without exercising due care. (NYDN, Gothamist)
- Fire extinguishers — life-saving devices or vandals' playthings? To the MTA, it's still the latter, despite last week's fatal immolation of a woman on an F train. (NY Post)
- Tree-mendous news! Do you want your Christmas tree to keep sprucing up your home for weeks and weeks? The Sanitation Department reminded New Yorkers that now that curbside composting is in place, you can branch out and keep your tree as long as you want. Just strip it of all tinsel and ornaments and put it out with the regular composing whenever you're ready. (Gothamist)
- Mayor Adams will kick off his re-election campaign with a big State of the City address, amNY reported. But since such speeches are typically about a mayor's achievements, we're guessing it'll be a very short speech, based on Kevin Duggan's razor-sharp reporting today.
- A woman was killed in a hit-and-run in Queens. (NY Post)
- Obviously, the Post objects to anyone giving Joe Biden credit for anything, but (to paraphrase a former president) Ayman al-Zawahiri is dead and the Gateway Tunnel is alive.
- Meet Vikram Oberoi, every journalist's (and citizen's) best friend. (Hell Gate)
- And, finally, we didn't run a list of our recent benefactors because of the holiday, so here are the people we want to thank for contributing to our December Donation Drive (which you can do too if you click here): Thanks, Jon! Thanks, Neil! Thanks, Alex! Thanks, Andrew! Thanks, John (you can come to the office for coffee anytime)! Thanks, Greg! Thanks, Kenneth! Thanks, Arek! Thanks, Adrian!
