Before turning to devastating service cuts, raising student fares or diverting capital funds, Transportation Alternatives urges Governor Paterson and the New York State Legislature to raise additional revenue from drivers. Last spring, the Legislature approved a new payroll tax to fund the MTA, coupled with a fare hike. The initial plan also called for drivers to contribute with new East and Harlem River bridge tolls which would have contributed $600 million in additional revenue for the MTA. That portion of the plan, supported by decades of sharing the burden of funding transit between drivers, straphangers and businesses, was cut from the final MTA funding package on the objection of a handful of State Senators.

T.A. is calling on leaders in Albany to prevent the cuts and fare hikes proposed by the MTA board by enacting bridge tolls as proposed last spring, congestion pricing or fees on vehicle-miles-traveled.

"This isn't Sophie's Choice. We should not have to choose between keeping our system moving and keeping it affordable--at least not while drivers are getting a free pass," says Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. "Straphangers and businesses have borne their fair share, and now it's time for drivers to step up to preserve the transit system that keeps our region's roads moving."

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