As Albany lawmakers ponder which of a half-dozen Ravitch plan variations they might support, the possibility looms that no solution may come in time. New Yorkers could see their fares rise 25 percent while service is cut back -- a twin catastrophe in this tough economic time. Yet no big new ideas ar...

Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz on congestion pricing, February 2008: Who could support a plan that creates a regressive tax on middle-class and working people from the Bronx and the outer boroughs? Jeffrey Dinowitz on the possibility of eliminating the Bx34, February 2009: "The fact that th...

Under the Ravitch Plan, driving into Manhattan over the Third Avenue Bridge will be a relative bargain for Richard Brodsky's Westchester constituents. It’s easy to dismiss City Councilmembers Lew Fidler and Peter Vallone, Jr. as transportation troglodytes. They’ve led the pushback against bridge...

Rhetorically speaking, it's often easier to be against something than to stand in support of it. This could be why, with one or two possible exceptions, the political players in the MTA "doomsday" drama have so far gained the most media attention by, say, shouting down bridge tolls (Yay!) ...

New Yorkers can expect more misery on the streets as well as underground if the MTA has to follow through on the austerity measures it unveiled yesterday. The transportation analysts behind the Kheel Plan -- the congestion pricing variant that balances higher driver fees with free transit -- calcula...

 Care of the Politicker, here's 38-year incumbent Assembly Member Dick Gottfried explaining to the Chelsea Reform Democratic Club, whose endorsement he wants for his re-election bid, how democratic Shelly Silver's house is in comparison to the state Senate. All things considered, it's a jaw-dro...

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan may have died weeks ago, but the acrimony between its supporters and opponents has hardly gone away....

Marc Shaw, former chair of the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission, caused something of a stir in the local press on Friday, when he predicted that congestion pricing would "rise again" as a proposal to toll East River bridges and a cordon across 60th street. Speaking at a panel discu...

A commentator at the Wall Street Journal blog Buzzwatch posits that congestion pricing would have stood a better chance if it had a better name. After asking branding specialists for a more appealing moniker, here's what rose to the top: StreetSmart - Burt Alper, Catchword Branding FreeFlow and Clea...

In what is a very symbolic blow to NYC, the congestion pricing plan was laid to rest even before it was brought to life. The honour for that misdeed goes to “Scumbag Silver” a.k.a. Sheldon Silver the speaker of the NY State Assembly. The proposal would have brought much needed relief to ...