Congestion pricing countdown: The MTA has to publish full revenue and usage date

As precise large supporters of congestion pricing, we are thrilled by the early indications of reduced postulation successful Midtown and Downtown; present the MTA indispensable supply details connected the gross generated from the caller toll connected vehicles driving beneath 60th St.

The two-fold committedness of congestion pricing, and wherefore we person championed it for decades — agelong earlier immoderate of the politicians and the MTA — is that it volition bring down postulation (along with aerial and sound pollution, crashes and necktie ups) and it volition nutrient wealth to money wide transit.

While determination seems to beryllium a statement that postulation is down, either by existent measurement oregon conscionable anecdotal evidence, conscionable 2 weeks successful is inactive acold excessively aboriginal for a rigorous valuation of conveyance congestion levels.

So however astir the caller income to bolster the subways, buses and commuter rail?

The ample bulk of drivers person E-ZPass transponders connected their windshields, truthful the MTA knows instantly who’s been crossing into the portion since the detectors and cameras were activated 2 weeks ago. As is the lawsuit with the MTA’s tolled bridges and tunnels, it takes 3 days for a complaint to look connected an E-ZPass account, but determination are a batch of different variables.

After capturing and signaling the ID of the car oregon truck, the computers indispensable find if the conveyance is entitled to 1 of the various discounts oregon exemptions based connected income oregon disablement status. Or did the operator enactment connected the West Side Highway oregon the FDR the full time, truthful so nary interest is imposed? Was the introduction during daytime with a modular $9 interest oregon successful nighttime play erstwhile the outgo is $2.25?

Still, the computers should beryllium capable to fig each that reasonably rapidly and erstwhile we pressed MTA officials connected the figures, they said that the dollar numbers volition beryllium afloat reported erstwhile a month, on with each different MTA revenues.

They reminded america that those number of drivers without an progressive and updated E-ZPass volition beryllium mailed an invoice for the tolls (which are 50% steeper, oregon $13.50) but those billing statements don’t adjacent until the extremity of the month.

And there’s an adjacent longer lag clip until the MTA gets information connected the $1.50 for each Uber and Lyft travel successful the zone, which won’t travel successful until February. For yellowish taxis, wherever the interest is 75 cents per trip, the archetypal month’s info volition get successful March.

But they importune that erstwhile the archetypal sets of numbers from the assorted streams commence, each cent volition beryllium publically reported each month.

They request to spell further and besides interruption down the conveyance types (cars, trucks, motorcycles), zip codification of registration, times and days of entry, introduction point. And arsenic portion of this determination needs to beryllium a tally of those cheaters without E-ZPass who are illegally obscuring oregon hiding their licence plates. That is theft and a transgression and the perpetrators indispensable beryllium caught and punished.

We are convinced that the archetypal unpopularity and apprehension astir congestion pricing — arsenic happened successful Singapore, London, Milan and Stockholm — volition alteration successful New York (as happened overseas) erstwhile postulation improves.

Having each the facts and figures astir who is paying the interest is besides indispensable for transparency and for nationalist awareness.