No new New York tolls - Ravitch commission rebuffed

New York legislators seem to have ruled out implementation of tolls on East River and Harlem River bridges to Manhattan as recommended by the Governor's "Commission on MTA Financing" headed by Richard Ravitch, veteran transportation chief. The senate majority leader Malcolm Smith (Dem) is quoted as saying that everything is still on the table "except tolls."

But the news today is that there is equally strong opposition to a regional payroll tax. The New York Times this afternoon quotes an insider to the negotiations in the legislature as saying that the whole effort to find alternatives to an approximate 25% in transit fares and city crossing tolls and reductions in service is close to failure.

"It's not dead but it's not in good shape... I think we're nowhere," an insider is quoted after weeks of back and forth behind closed doors.

The board of MTA, the New York area mega-agency for transit and tolls has already voted in favor of the 25% fare and toll increases and service cuts in case the legislature and the governor cannot come to agreement. It is just 16 months since the previous round of fare and toll increases so it has attracted strong criticism.

The Ravitch commission was supposed to be the expert underpinning of an alternative to simply hiking existing charges.  It was a bipartisan commission established by the Governor David Paterson last summer to address the huge deficit of the transportation system in the New York metro area.

These were the two key components recommended by the Ravitch Commission in their December 2, 2008 report:

- 0.33% dedicated regional payroll tax in 12 counties to raise $1500m/yr

- tolls on the presently tax-supported East River Bridges between Manhattan and Brooklyn and  Manhattan and Queens set at the same level as the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority's tolls on the tunnels and the Triborough (Kennedy) bridge and on Harlem River bridges between Manhattan and Bronx to be set at the level of subway subway fares, together to produce $600m/yr

Opponents of tolling in the legislature have not expressed any reasoned arguments, just the language of power politics: "Tolls are a burden on our constituents and we won't support them."

Tolls are not taxes, they engender greater efficiency

Taxes are mostly a deadweight cost, but tolls properly implemented, the Commission  recognized, could generate major improvements to traffic flow and efficiency, lowering the costs of personal and business travel. As the Commission report said:

"Ultimately the Commission believes that there should be a fully coordinated tolling strategy, including the implementation of variable pricing and one-way tolling, on the region’s crossings both to improve traffic management and the efficiency of the transportation system. While this recommendation differs from the congestion charging proposals advocated by many who testified before the Commission, the Commission believes this approach offers many of the same benefits of congestion charging without many of its complications and costs.

"The Commission is also mindful of past opposition to charging for the use of the Harlem and East River Bridges and recommends that tolling authority be limited to tolling approaches and technologies that do not require toll plazas or that would in any way impede the free flow of traffic."

The $600m in revenues would pay for the toll system, provide much needed revenue for upkeep of the bridges and some surplus for mass transit.

The bridges in question were originally tolled but political opportunism has seen the tolls removed and the bridges become a burden on taxpayers. They include the storied Brooklyn Bridge.

Ravitch Commission report:

http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/pdf/press_1204082.pdf

on the vote to increase tolls and fares a quarter:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4076

TOLLROADSnews 2009-04-01