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“The cost of the tolls for anyone to come from Queens or Long Island to get to the Bronx is $7.50 each way. It has an impact on our ability to hire qualified staff.” —School principal, The Bronx

“Our residents and our companies don’t have the option not to pay a toll. Our Staten Island economy is being crushed as a result of this excessive tolling.” —Business owner, Staten Island

“I used to take the B-71 bus to work, and then one day they just cancelled it. And now I can take three subways to go two miles...or I can drive.” —Graduate student, Brooklyn

“All transit riders deserve to be respected. We deserve a system that works for everybody.” —Grassroots coordinator, Brooklyn

“If traffic is less, we can pick up more people. It’s good for the cab driver and it’s good for the passengers, too.” —Taxi driver, Queens

“In Bed-Stuy, our main train is the C train. It’s voted every year the worst train in the entire system.” —Organizer, Brooklyn

“When we’re stuck in traffic, we kill our time and we lose money.” —Taxi driver, Queens

“It’s often impossible and unsafe to cross the streets here with my child in her stroller because of the overflow traffic—and the trucks—from the BQE. There shouldn’t be this kind of traffic in residential neighborhoods.” —Brooklyn mother

Real New Yorkers Need Real Solutions New York’s success was built on a transportation system that was fast, safe and fair.

It’s time to return to those principles.

Learn more at www.Move-NY.org

•Quickerandlesscrowdedcommutesforridersanddrivers

•Newtransitservicetounderservedneighborhoods

•Fairertollingsystem

•Reducedgridlock

•Saferstreets

•Improvementstobridges,roads,subwaysandtrains

•Sustainablesourceoffundingtomaintainandimproveourtransportationsystem—andensureNewYork’scontinuingsuccess

How the Move NY plan will benefit New Yorkers

Get involved.

Contact us at info@move-ny.org for more information.

Endorse the MOVE NY Plan.

Tell your elected officials to support the plan.

Write a Letter to the Editor.

Join us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Invite us to speak to your community group.

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“This plan has definitive benefits for drivers: toll reductions in the outer boroughs and improvements in the roads that go beyond state of good repair.” —John Corlett, AAA New York State

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Won’t this hurt working and middle-class New Yorkers?No. The tolls on moderate-income New Yorkers will be far offset by the transit improvements for all New Yorkers, the smoother roads and lower tolls on the outer bridges, and the 30,000 new permanent jobs. Small business owners will have their CBD tolls capped at once per 24-hour period, and most will more than earn that back by making more service calls and deliveries in a less congested CBD.

How is the Move NY plan any different from the Bloomberg plan?The Move NY plan is a master plan for the region’s transportation system that distributes costs and benefits across the region and improves transportation for drivers and transit riders alike. First, revenues raised from the plan go to fix roads and bridges as well as improve transit. Second, tolls on seven bridges in the outer parts of the city are cut by nearly half. Third, trucks and other commercial vehicles will pay the new CBD round-trip toll only once per day—regardless of how many trips they make. Fourth, travel times will improve by up to 20% within the CBD and by 5% in the areas outside it.

Isn’t this just a way to stick it to drivers?No. Drivers will get faster commutes, lower tolls on the MTA’s outer bridges, and better roads. That’s why AAA-NY and the New York State Motor Truck Association support the Move NY plan.

What about people who are willing to take public transportation but don’t live near a transit station?To ensure that every New Yorker can access public transportation, the first dollars raised by the Move NY plan will go to fill transit gaps. The plan will allow the MTA to restore more bus and sub-way service cuts from 2010, extend commuter rail “City Ticket” discounts to seven days a week, speed deployment of new Select Bus Service or Bus Rapid Transit, add discounted express bus service in areas with poor access to subways or commuter rail, and add new train and bus service, such as: North and West Shore service in Staten Island, four new Bronx Metro-North stations, and new subway service connecting Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx.

? FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

N ew York’s transportation network made ours a world-class city and is vital to our continued success. Over

the last 120 years, we constructed a network of bridges, roadways and an extensive public transportation system that has been the envy of the nation and the driving force of the region’s sustained economic growth. It’s not

an exaggeration to say that New York’s transportation system is the lifeblood of the city. New Yorkers know it’s our public transit and roads that connect us to our jobs, schools, friends, family and all this great city has to offer.

Our infrastructure is aging. Our roads are a mess. Too many of our people are underserved by public transportation. And some aspects of our transportation system make little sense in today’s world. The absence of a sustainable

source of funding has led to severe transit service cuts, deferred maintenance of critical infrastructure and a ballooning debt burden. Rising tolls and a skewed tolling system—where

we charge the most to drivers who have the fewest, if any, transit options and nothing to those that do—have exacerbated gridlock in the most congested areas.

As the region’s population grows, our transportation infrastructure and services will not only continue to

deteriorate, they won’t be able to handle the increased demand. Faced with a growing crisis, our city and state must find a solution that: maintains and modernizes our existing system; expands transit options to underserved areas; reduces gridlock; and provides sustainable revenue to keep the system going—at costs that are fair and affordable for all New Yorkers.

Faced with transportation problems that affect all of us, New York needs a plan. One native Brooklynite, former NYC traffic commissioner “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz—he literally coined the term—has spent years coming up with a commonsense solution. He and the Move NY team spent three years meeting with New Yorkers across the region, listening to their concerns and hearing their ideas—and they’re still listening. The outcome is a draft plan based on a firm set of principles.

Faster. Safer. Fairer. • New Yorkers should be able to get around the city more quickly

and safely • Everyone should contribute and receive benefits in return • Revenues must go first to filling transit gaps in underserved neighborhoods • The plan must be business friendly • Revenues must be safeguarded and used for specific, concrete transportation improvements.

Toll Reform. An essential feature of the plan is to wipe the slate clean and create a tolling system that’s fair and makes sense by: • Lowering tolls on borough bridges that have

less congestion and fewer transit alternatives • Equalizing tolls to the Central Business District (CBD) where congestion is worst and transit is readily available. The result: reduced tolls (by 40–50%) on all seven TBTA outer bridges, while all crossings into Midtown and lower Manhattan will charge the same rate as the existing East River tunnels. To protect small businesses, no commercial vehicle will pay more than one round trip toll into the CBD per day. To ensure fairness, other drivers entering the CBD will also

pay a road toll, and a portion of taxi fares will be dedicated to improving our transportation system.

In return, New Yorkers will get: • An efficient transportation system with improvements to our roads and rails, buses and subways, and bridges and tunnels

• Less congestion and quicker trips • Toll equity for all drivers.

Toremainthegreatestcityintheworld,NewYorkcannotstandstill.Weneedatransportationsystemthat’sfaster,saferandfairer.

New York wouldn’t be New York without our subways, roads, bridges and tunnels.

But now, we are experiencing increasing transportation problems that could undermine our city’s economy.

The Move NY plan offers a comprehensive solution to the major challenges facing our transportation network.

OPTIONS FOR FUNDING THE REGION’S TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

Learn more at www.Move-NY.org

Brooklyn

Queens

Staten Island

The Bronx

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New Jersey

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FREE

FREE

FREE

CBD

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$$ $

$

$

$

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Most drivers get a raw deal

Brooklyn

Queens

Staten Island

The Bronx

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CBD

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$2.83*

$2.83

$5.33

New rates

$1.00

$1.44

Our current system of tolls is nonsensical and unfair.

As part of a comprehensive plan of improvements a fairer tolling system is essential.

To produce the same revenue as the Move NY Plan, an alternative plan would have to:

• Raise the gas tax by 46 cents a gallon in the 12 counties served by the MTA.

• Raise the sales tax in the same 12 counties by two-thirds to three-quarters of a percentage point – bringing the NYC tax rate, for example, to 9.6%.

• More than double the Payroll Mobility Tax across the entire 12-county MTA region.

• Reinstate the Commuter Tax.

• Issue more debt without new revenue to finance it, which means locking in ever-higher fares and tolls, in perpetuity.

• Do nothing and underfund our transportation infrastructure, returning to the dilapidated trains, buses, roads and bridges that brought the city to its knees in the 1970s and 1980s.

In short, nobody has put forth a plan that is more fair and effective than the Move NY Plan.

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