News outlets including The New York Times and the AP are reporting that the New York State Legislature has reached an agreement of sorts: to form a commission to study congestion and come up with a plan to mitigate it. The commission might or might not end up recommending congestion pricing. According to The Times, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno says that the City Council would be required to approve whatever plan the commission recommends, and the Legislature would have until the end of next March to approve it.
Apparently the nabobs feel that there's still a chance for NYC to get as much as $500 million from the federal government towards traffic relief, even though the deadline for the process passed on Monday.
This is guardedly good news. Much of the funding for implementation of PlaNYC's recommendations would come from the revenue created by congestion pricing fees. What other sources of funding will the State Legislature offer if the fees aren't implemented?
