Jason Varone

Responding to some politicians' claims that congestion pricing is a "regressive tax" that would impact "working stiffs" who must drive to their jobs, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and the Pratt Center for Community Development have compiled data, broken down by district, showing that the vast majority of commuters in New York City and surrounding counties would not be affected by a congestion pricing fee. In district after district, the stats show that most people either work somewhere other than the proposed pricing zone or commute to the CBD via transit, carpooling or other means. Fact sheets are available for City Council, State Assembly and Senate, and US Congressional districts.

The marker to the south is where the speeding taxi passed the cyclist. The marker to the north is where the cyclist gave up trying to chase after him.

As part of its statutory mandate, the 17-member New York City Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission is conducting a series of public hearings to be held in each borough, on Long Island, and in Westchester County. The purpose of the hearings is to take testimony from the public, and to obtain and review information and proposals regarding traffic congestion. While these hearings are sure to be excruciating and Commission Chair Marc Shaw has noted that he's not a huge fan of the public process, it will probably be extremely important for people who want to see a greener, less gridlocked future for the New York Metropolitan region to make their voices heard at all seven meetings:

The National Complete Streets Coalition reports on an important victory for the livable streets movement in Illinois.  A new law mandates that the principles of complete streets must be incorporated into all new projects and construction, effective immediately.

Here's a good little item that nearly slipped past us. City Room reported the other day that the MTA is testing new battery-powered buses:

Apparently unaware of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's assertion that "human-powered vehicles are never going to be the answer," USA Today reports that several large U.S. cities are accelerating their efforts to encourage commuting on two wheels. The article cites New York for the new separated bike lane, and for putting bike racks where cars once parked.

Writing in this month's Reader's Digest, Matthew Kahn, an environmental economist at UCLA's Institute of the Environment, analyzed data from 141 nations and ranked the planet's greenest, most livable places.

Covering Interbike 2007, the largest bicycle trade show in North America, Wired magazine notices an emerging trend:

The Department of Transportation announced the installation of a buffered bike lane on Fifth Avenue in this month's NYCycles, a monthly e-newsletter produced by DOT on cycling issues.