Borough leaders were nearly unanimous in their disapproval of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to implement congestion pricing this week and called for an affordable, 30-minute commute to be available to all New Yorkers before levying charges on people who do not have access to it in the first place.
City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), chairman of the Council's Committee on Transportation, joined several other elected officials in sending a letter to Bloomberg which said before outerborough residents are required to pay equal tolls to drive to Manhattan, they should be guaranteed equal transit access. Liu said it is a lack of transit services, particularly in Queens, that leads residents to drive to work rather than take subways or buses. "People are going to drive their cars not because they love their cars, but because they don't have any other legitimate transit options," he said. Opposition to Bloomberg's plan, which would levy a $8 charge on all cars and a $21 charge on all commercial trucks entering Manhattan below 86th Street, has been widespread since the mayor announced his support for the idea in an address outlining his PlaNYC 2030 initiatives April 22.
The letter, also signed by Queens Councilmen Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) and Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), calls for specific improvements to be made to bolster access to public transit before congestion pricing is brought to the table. Liu said by implementing economically viable improvements, such as adding more express buses, creating better access to the Long Island Rail Road and subway stations and adding high-speed ferry lines in southern Queens, it is possible to promote the use of public transit without imposing unfair charges on residents. "We need to attract people to mass transit by offering real transit options," Liu said. "We should be offering to give people carrots, not just threatening them with a big stick." City Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows), who was on the mayor's PlaNYC committee, also said talk of congestion pricing is premature, but refused to sign Liu's letter because it specifically leaves the option on the table.
"We have to have some semblance of transit equity before we can have this discussion," Gennaro said. "I don't think it's appropriate to have the discussion about (congestion pricing) until we know that these things are there."
Gennaro, who is also chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee, said while he believes many of the environmental improvements such as congestion pricing proposed by Bloomberg are admirable in principle, building transit equity would ultimately prove to be the smartest route for the city.
"The best thing we can do for the environment is to give people better transit options," he said.
