Here's a riddle for you: what do you get when you cross two big bridges, one nearly insolvent transit authority, and a mayor who recently saw one of his major policy plans shot down by antagonistic legislators. According to one New York City official, you end up with a win-win.
Lucius J. Riccio, a former city transportation commissioner, has suggested that New York mayor Michael Bloomberg sell the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the agency responsible for operating (or attempting to operate, depending on who you ask) New York's sprawling transit system. His proposed asking price is $1.00 per bridge.
Harebrained idea? That's not the way Riccio sees it. He says that the MTA would begin assessing tolls on the two bridges once it had taken over, providing the agency with much-needed revenue while also reducing car traffic into the city.
Opponents of the plan say it's congestion pricing in sheep's clothing.
Bloomberg has been a Gung-ho proponent of congestion pricing -- earlier this year he introduced a plan that would charge cars $8.00 for the privilege of driving into Manhattan's central business district during the work week. Bloomberg just barely pushed the scheme through a divided City Council, but soon after it was shot down by the New York legislature. Riccio's pricing plan, opponents say, is just another effort to jam congestion pricing down people's throats.
Others argue that the mayor can't just wake up one day and decide to start selling off city assets. Riccio disagrees, saying that because subway trains run across the two bridges, they can be transferred to the MTA without City Council approval.
Judging by the responses to the New York Times' City Roomblog, where details of the Riccio idea first appeared, drivers and riders alike have little faith that the MTA is up to the task of maintaining and operating two of the city's major bridges. "The MTA is so utterly incompetent that entrusting them with two more bridges is a bit dangerous," wrote one. Another was even harsher: "At best,the MTA can barely get their stuff together for mass transit. If they can’t even handle their core responsibility in a competent manner, how can any sane person be led to believe that they can take on other functions?"
And then of course there's the money issue. While collecting tolls from drivers on the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges would generate cash for the MTA, upkeep of those bridges will also cost money, which is something the agency doesn't have much of these days.
"Where would the MTA get the $2 asking price anyway?" asked one New Yorker. That's a good question.
Photo by Flickr user off kilter
