New York, NY – Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan barely squeaked by a divided City Council. Then it was blocked by an antagonistic State Legislature.
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But what if there was a way to get some of the benefits of congestion pricing while circumventing those pesky legislative bodies?
That is what was proposed by Lucius J. Riccio, a former city transportation commissioner, who called for the mayor to sell the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges to the MTA.
According to Mr. Riccio, the authority could then charge tolls on the bridges, which would both reduce traffic and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for transit — the main goals of congestion pricing.
Mr. Riccio said the mayor had the right to sell city assets, such as the bridges, without approval by the City Council. And because subway trains run across the bridges, they can be considered transportation facilities, giving the authority the legal basis to acquire them.
Mr. Riccio suggested that $1 would be a fair price, since the authority would take over the costly maintenance of the aging bridges.
He spoke at a hearing of the state commission created by Gov. David A. Paterson to recommend a solution to the transportation authority’s financial crisis. The commission is headed by Richard Ravitch, a former authority chairman, who has said he is open to looking at reviving discussion of congestion pricing as a way to generate money for transit projects.
But Mr. Ravitch seemed unimpressed with the idea. “I appreciate Lou’s imagination,” he told reporters. He said that the commission was seeking to come up with a proposal that would draw broad support from public officials.
Mr. Ravitch added, “You can’t just do two bridges, in my opinion.”
City Hall was less quick to dismiss the idea. “We look forward to reviewing all the Ravitch commission proposals once we receive them, and we eagerly await the report as it will be critical for finding solutions to mass transit funding,” said Marc La Vorgna, a spokesman for the mayor.
Some city officials, however, said it was not clear if the sales could be done without legislative approvals.
The Ravitch Commission is expected to make its recommendations in early December.
Some proponents of congestion pricing have advocated simply placing tolls on the four East River bridges as a simpler alternative. Under Mr. Riccio’s proposal, the other two bridges, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Queensboro Bridge, would remain free. That could lead to heavier traffic over those bridges as drivers flocked to the remaining free crossings.
The City Council has long opposed attempts to place tolls on the East River bridges.
If you believe this, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
How about selling the subway cars? I would love to furnish my own subway . Or i would buy the upper deck of the GW bridge
it will cost a dollar to start and before you know it they will sock you like the verrezanno
all it will end up doing is make less people come to the stores in manhattan as well.
bloomberg wants manhattan as a place for rich only.
small shops will close up. the rich get richer, the poor get shafted by bloomberg.
say no to tolls on bridges!!
Here is another good idea Mr. Bloombers sell the bike lanes all over the city and charge toll $1 from them. LEAVE MOTORISTS ALONE!!! our expenses are high without your super plans. Can’t wait for the day you should leave office so we can all have releif.
The $1 price is NOT the cost of the crossing. It is what the MTA would consider a FAIR price to buy the bridges.
BTW the Williamsburg bridge is not that old. It was rebuilt in the 80s or 90s (remember Trup wanting to build and name it)
Pesky legislative bodies? antagonistic State Legislature? We are all thankfull that they stopped that plan, they represent us not the goverment coffers. I am surprised that VIN is sticking up for Bloobergs money looting ideas. Takes our money and burns it on waterfalls.
This piece of News,put this Quote in Perspective…
“I Got a Bridge for Sale”
Lock & Load
The City should lead the way by eliminating all vehicles from City employees at any level. No exceptions. Let them use mass transit if it’s so good! The expense of vehicle maintenance alone couples with fuel charge savings would generate more savings than any plan concocted here. As long as their plans are to tax bridge users, oops, I mean to add a toll to cross the bridge, but not on how to significantly cut their expenses, they can never be satisfied. Our great Mayor rides a bike, cops ride bikes, why should’nt all other City employees have to do the same? And yes, the City needs to make bike-riding more street-friendly by placing bike racks on the front of busses as they do in Europe.
The Williamsburgh Bridge would go first. It will become; outer roadway men only, inner roadway noshim only.
The sooner Goonberg leaves office the better
9:48 Its not that hard to google the facts. The Williamsburg Bridge was built between 1896-1903.
9:48 you look very innteligent but the bridge was totally redone in the 90’s (remember the ferry for a long time)oy gevald is 1000 percent right if city workers only would take mass trans even for free it would cut traffic probably 50 percent how come no politician offered it b4 elections?
Ever streetlight should be up for sale.
Some of them just stand there for decades and no one cares.
Ok, what do we really need?
We need more farbissen, angry, bitter, disgusted meter maids who hate themselves, hate their jobs, and hate us. Then, and only then, would this city finally be the best place to live for meter maids and welfare cheaters.
I think the city should sell its parking meters, they’ll then have enough to pay off its debt. I already know which ones I want to buy.
Leave it to politicians to find ways to pick everyones pocket.
These idiots can’t manage the bridges and tunnels already in their control –
They can’t account for their funds – they don’t know a deficit from a surplus from quarter to quarter
We need to run these offices (MTA TBTA) like businesses instead of political fiefdoms.
its funny how 94% of the verrazono bridge toll money goes to pay for other garbage in the city…
How about we sell the mayor and be done with this whole thing??
rechel mechel,
The problem is that many of the subway lines are already at or over capacity. The only line from the Bronx into Manhattan that could handle any more riders is the Grand Concourse (B/D) line. The 1,2,4,5, and 6 lines are so overcrowded that you can’t get any more people in the cars, and they can’t run any more trains during rush hour. I suspect that is the case with some of the lines from Brooklyn and Queens as well.