Sorry, mayor: Bridge tolls are progressive

As we know all too well, our mass transit system is in crisis. This is due mainly to an aging infrastructure, growing demand for more service and the lack of sustainable revenue streams to support its ongoing needs. Sadly, delays, equipment failures and signal malfunctions have become the norm for beleaguered transit users.

The system is also falling short of its reputation as the “great equalizer” where people of all economic backgrounds converge to get around the city. Simply put, the cost of riding the city’s buses and subways is out of reach for too many of our lowest-income residents. Transit expenses often consume more than 10% of the family budgets of the working poor, compared to 1% of the budgets of higher-income families.

The time is at hand to address both the infrastructure needs of the system and its inherent inequities. After much criticism for being aloof to the plight of subway riders, Mayor de Blasio stepped up this summer with a bold proposal to fix the system: a modest increase in the “millionaire’s tax” on the city’s wealthiest residents to create a recurring revenue stream to pay for transit upgrades.

Most notably, the mayor called for using a portion of the proceeds to fund “Fair Fares” — a campaign supported by the Community Service Society, Riders Alliance and a broad coalition of groups to fund half-priced MetroCards for city residents with incomes at or below poverty.

I applaud the mayor for taking up this crusade. But as one of de Blasio’s appointees on the MTA board, I want to be clear: He should reconsider his opposition to congestion pricing, which calls for a combination of charging fees to vehicles traveling below 60th St. in Manhattan, placing tolls on the four East River crossings, and other transportation-related fees or taxes to fund transit and infrastructure improvements.

Critics of congestion pricing say that it is a regressive tax. New research by the Community Service Society, an anti-poverty organization I lead, appears to refute that.

We examined the potential impacts of congestion pricing on the working poor. Our analysis found that just 4% of the city’s outer-borough working residents commute to jobs in Manhattan by vehicle and could be subject to a congestion pricing fee.

In fact, the vast majority of commuters into Manhattan don’t drive, they use public transit.

We also found that only 2% of the city’s outer-borough working poor could potentially pay a congestion fee as part of their daily commute. This compares with 58% who rely on public transit and would theoretically benefit from a congestion pricing plan that raises money for both improved transit services and fare discounts.

Overall, we found that approximately 2.2 million city residents rely on public transit to get to work, including 190,000 working poor who would also be eligible for half-priced MetroCards.

Conversely, we found that 118,000 outer-borough residents who get to work by driving or as passengers, including 5,000 working poor, would potentially pay a congestion fee.

Looked at another way, for every New York City outer-borough commuter who would pay the new tolls, 18 would gain from transit upgrades. But the working poor would benefit by a dramatically higher margin of 38 to 1 from a congestion pricing revenue stream used to fund both transit upgrades and the “Fair Fares” discounts for the lowest-income riders.

Here’s the bottom line: The city’s public transit needs have gone underfunded for too long. We are now suffering from that neglect. If we are serious about fixing the system for the future, we need to explore all potential revenue streams, including congestion pricing.

Gov. Cuomo says he wants to revisit the idea of congestion pricing. We don’t know what the governor’s plan will entail. But both the mayor and governor should be open to all potential funding solutions that can help fix our deteriorating mass transit system. That includes a millionaire’s tax, congestion pricing and other revenue streams external to the MTA. Already groups who are unquestionably dedicated to the interests of low-income New Yorkers are coming to that same conclusion.

Political stalemates are not going to fix our ailing transit system. It’s time to get serious about leveraging all of the resources at our disposal to save mass transit and make it work for all New Yorkers.