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Congestion pricing is upon us. There are many who side with the mayor, and feel that financially discouraging people from driving into Manhattan is a progressive, bold plan. Others fear the toll such a plan would take on Queens and the other outer boroughs, straining an already overburdened public transportation system and bringing more vehicle traffic into the congested neighborhoods around transit hubs.

Regardless, the City has been tentatively awarded $354.5 million in federal transportation funds to try out a plan that will reduce vehicle traffic by as little as 6.3 percent. This is a full $200 million less than what had been requested, but the mayor remains confident that the program will be able to proceed as planned.

The funds were awarded jointly to the City Department of Transportation, the MTA and the State Department of Transportation. Under the agreement, if the State Legislature approves a pilot congestion pricing plan or an alternative pricing mechanism, the MTA will receive $184 million for new bus facilities and the City will receive $112.7 million to establish Bus Rapid Transit in all five boroughs. The City will also receive $29.3 million for pedestrian and traffic signal improvements, $10.4 million in grant money to implement congestion pricing, $15.8 to improve ferry service, and $2 million to conduct research.

“We’ve worked very hard to secure these funds, and this is a major victory for the people of New York City,” said Bloomberg. “By fulfilling the terms of the agreement, we will be able to create new and better mass transit options for commuters all across the city before congestion pricing takes effect. Now we’ll work with the State Legislature and City Council to seize this golden opportunity to use federal funds to reduce congestion, improve air quality, and keep traffic tie-ups from choking our economy.”

Gov. Eliot Spitzer said he saw the funding as “a down payment on a healthier, more environmentally friendly New York.”

But not all the response to the news was positive.

Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Flushing) noted that Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff testified at an Assembly hearing June 8 that it would cost $225 million to install the congestion pricing system proposed by the Mayor. “If the Feds are only giving $10.4 million toward congestion pricing’s $225 million start-up cost, where is the other $214.6 million going to come from,” he asked.

Lancman said he is worried that the funding will not provide enough relief to the transit system. “This conditional award fails to live up to the mayor’s promises,” he said. “Not only does it seem to leave City taxpayers footing the bill to implement the mayor’s congestion price tax, but at least insofar as the mayor intends to spend the money, it leaves outer borough commuters who would jump at the chance to use mass transit no better off at all.”

Under the agreement, the City will also receive $10.4 million to begin congestion pricing in Manhattan south of 86th Street, with a requirement to reduce vehicle miles traveled in the congestion pricing zone by 6.3 percent. The City is also committed to spending $112.7 million for technology acquisition, matching the USDOT’s spending on bus rapid transit.

The organization Help Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free, represented by former Queens Councilman Walter McCaffrey, has taken a hard-line approach to Congestion Pricing.

“If the goal truly is to reduce traffic, the City has a moral and legal obligation to seek any and all alternatives before adding a new tax scheme to overburdened New Yorkers,” McCaffrey said. “Further, the plan foresees less than an 8 percent improvement in traffic density, with the bulk of the federal funding earmarked for the city to spend on other priorities. The fact remains that the overall congestion tax and vehicle surveillance plan still can – and should – be derailed by the various legislatures if its proponents fail to prove the plan will not cause our citizens, especially those so vigorously opposed in the outer boroughs, an onerous expense and disruption.”

All parts of the agreement are contingent on the State Legislature approving the pilot congestion pricing plan, or an alternative pricing mechanism, within 90 days of the opening of the next legislative session, and making it effective no later than March 31, 2009.

Under the agreement, the MTA would receive funds for the construction of bus depots in Jamaica and Staten Island. Also, the MTA would purchase up to 367 new buses with funds already budgeted for the construction of the depots. In addition, the grant also pays for constructing a bus lay-up facility, upgrading Park & Ride locations, improving pedestrian walkways to and from stations, and providing new technology at 223 intersections to better manage traffic flow. The City Department of Transportation will construct an East River bus lane to decrease travel times.

New York City will receive $112.7 million to begin Bus Rapid Transit, which will give New Yorkers bus lines with improved infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling that make service faster and more efficient. A high- speed Bus Rapid Transit system will be developed in New York City in all five boroughs along major transit corridors that lack subway service.

In Southeast Queens, where one of the bus lines is expected, resident have opposed the bus service, noting that it would eliminate parking along the Merrick Boulevard corridor and reduce foot traffic at retail shops in Laurelton and Springfield Gardens.

Finally, the City would receive $15.8 million for ferry service improvements to connect developing neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens with Midtown and Lower Manhattan and $2 million for research.

None of these plans can go into effect until a congestion pricing plan meeting the USDOT’s standards is authorized. Failure to meet the VMT-reduction goals, implementation deadlines and all other conditions stipulated in the USDOT grant will lead to a forfeiture of the grant.