Traffic and Transportation

Steve Harrison has developed an innovative plan to eliminate the Verrazano toll for 13th district residents on both sides of the bridge. 

He also favors eliminating toll booths and replacing them with state of the art boothless scanning.  According to census data, Staten Islanders have the longest average commute in the country. Staten Island is the only borough without round the clock, seven days a week service to and from midtown.

To help remedy the commuting nightmare, Steve Harrison advocates for expanded express bus service to Manhattan from all segments of Staten Island and increased ferry service frequency. He also favors developing a North Shore train link to the ferry and creating affordable high speed ferry service convenient for all Island Commuters.

Steve strongly supports replacing the Gowanus expressway with a tunnel, abating traffic for  Staten Island and Brooklyn Residents.

 

Congestion Pricing

 

Steve Harrison opposes the Congestion Pricing Plan.  The plan calls for congestion tolls to discourage driving into lower Manhattan.  Revenue from toll collection would be earmarked for public transportation.  However, this means significant lag time before transit improvement implementation. This is putting the cart before the horse.

 

Those priced off the roads by congestion pricing will be forced to use already over burdened mass transit before service improvement.  It is unacceptable to take people out of their cars merely to put them in already overcrowded trains, buses or ferries.  A well-honed public transportation system will attract ridership and remove drivers from the road without congestion pricing.

 

The plan's twin goals of less pollution and more money for mass transit are moderately contradictory.  Discouraging cars from entering Manhattan with congestion fees will reduce pollution.  But fewer cars paying fees means less money for transportation projects.

 

If congestion pricing is optimized for pollution reduction, revenue will be insufficient to fund mass transit.  Harrison thinks it's a bad idea to do the reverse and price to maximize revenue instead of to decrease pollution.

 

The congestion plan is a hidden toll on free East Rive bridges.  Under congestion pricing, drivers entering Manhattan from toll points such as the Battery Tunnel will have their current charges deducted from the congestion fee.  People taking the currently free Brooklyn Bridge will pay the full congestion penalty.  "No matter how you slice it, it's still a Brooklyn Bridge toll," says Harrison.

 

The congestion pricing plan also lacks class equity.  The plan is being positioned as a "Mercedes Tax", charging limo driven CEOs who whisk past working class commuters riding overcrowded buses and trains.  In reality, congestion pricing won't discourage the rich from driving in.  However, it will heavily penalize workers with inadequate public transit options. 

 

Harrison says the congestion plan is not without merit.  Making New York "greener" is a laudable goal.  But the current plan is fatally flawed. 

 

"I am unwilling to watch my fellow citizens in Staten Island and Brooklyn forced into commuting in inadequate and dangerously overcrowded subways, buses and ferries.  The way to spur transit use is though a carrot, not a stick.  If mass transit is improved, people will switch from driving to public transportation.  The shift will occur naturally."


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