Just A Little Sniffling Now, But Moving Towards Full-Blown Congestion For Sure

The idea of raising $400 million a year for public transit through fees on drivers isn’t terribly interesting. A bold plan to reduce traffic almost 15 percent through technologically exciting EZ-Pass doodads is slightly more interesting. Linking those doodads to reduced asthma rates for the children is pretty smart. But co-opting Critical Mass riders is basically a masterstroke:

At the first Legislative hearing on congestion pricing on June 8, the hearing room, in the stately Association of the Bar of the City of New York building in midtown, was packed with hundreds of supporters of congestion pricing wearing “I Breathe & I Vote” T-shirts. They ride their bikes to work, or eat vegetarian, or strive to leave a zero carbon footprint in their daily lives — in other words, they looked like the future.

Does it work? Check the polls:

The survey, conducted for a pro-plan group by Penn, Schoen & Berland, found 41 percent of residents of the city and the suburbs backed the plan when first asked, compared to just 13 percent opposed. Forty-six percent said they didn’t know enough to form an opinion.

When those polled were told of potential plan benefits, such as ending gridlock and reducing pollution-related health problems, support for the proposal jumped to 81 percent, according to the Campaign for New York’s Future, which funded the survey.

. . .

Campaign for New York’s Future spokesman Michael O’Loughlin said the poll showed that the more New Yorkers learn of Bloomberg’s plan, “the more they like it.”

However, in a separate statement, the polling firm noted that after being told that the plan would impose an $8 “congestion fee” on cars entering Manhattan below 86th Street during working hours, New Yorkers split 46 percent in favor and 46 percent opposed.

No more gridlock! No more asthma! Who wouldn’t agree? But for $8 . . . I don’t know.