Congestion Pricing

It's Super Duper Tuesday, primary election day here in New York. If you're still mulling your options and trying to figure out who the best candidate on Livable Streets issues is, Damien Newton of Street Heat L.A. and the editor of soon-to-be-launched Streetsblog Los Angeles, dug up the positions of the Democrats and Republicans for us. Grist and the Los Angeles Times have also done some nice candidate round-ups.

Borough Prez Candidate De Blasio Qualifies His Opposition to Congestion Pricing

A map produced by the Pratt Center [pdf] shows neighborhoods with a high concentration of low-income commuters with long commutes.

There is a nice surprise for City Council, neighborhood groups and transportation reformers in the congestion pricing plan approved by the Traffic Mitigation Commission yesterday. On page 8 of the plan, in a section called "Securing of parking revenues," the commission proposes dedicating all revenue raised within the congestion pricing zone from additional parking meter fees, a taxi surcharge and parking garage taxes to a new, New York City DOT fund for street and transit improvements.

After five months of work and something like 14 public hearings, the Congestion Mitigation Commission has finally made its recommendation. Here's how the voting went down at this afternoon's meeting:

Streetsblog has gotten hold of the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission recommendation, which should be voted on this hour. According to the version we have (pdf), the commission's alternative to Mayor Bloomberg's plan is expected to exceed the 6.3% VMT reduction required by the federal government, and raise an estimated $491 million per year for mass transit. Other details include:

WNYC had a short piece on the upcoming congestion panel vote this morning. It's a series of "word on the street" comments. Some of them are funny, others not so much. The gist is that a lot of people still don't know -- or don't believe -- that pricing revenues will be invested in transit.

The Congestion Mitigation Commission will vote on a plan today at 3 p.m. A source who has seen the final draft of the Commission's report tells me that it includes the following recommendations:

Today's the day.