Sam Schwartz looked around the Baruch College conference room and noted the disparate groups on hand to back his latest proposal to tackle congestion and tolling inequity in New York City.
Some of them opposed similar plans in the past.
"It's really great to see everybody side by side," Schwartz said Friday.
Schwartz, an engineer and former city transportation commissioner noted for his "Gridlock Sam" traffic advice columns - and for popularizing the phrase gridlock in the 1980s, renewed his "Move NY" toll-swap overhaul, in conjunction with the Regional Plan Association.
Along with Schwartz at the transportation forum in Manhattan Friday were representatives from such disparate groups as AAA, the New York State Motor Truck Association, the Straphangers Campaign subway rider lobbying group and Queens City Councilman Mark Weprin, who opposed a similar plan six years ago.
Supporters say the swap would generate nearly $1.5 billion in annual net revenue would maintain, expand and modernize the region's transit network and improve roads and bridges.
"The current tolling system is illogical and unfair. It's a vestige from past eras," said Schwartz.
Under the toll swap, East River bridge crossings - now free - would be tolled and drivers entering the central business district south of 60th Street in Manhattan would be tolled at the levels matching those on the Brooklyn-Battery and Queens-Midtown tunnels.
In exchange, tolls on all other Metropolitan Transportation Authority bridges, such as Verrazano-Narrows and Throgs Neck, would drop by as much as 50%. Metered taxis would be exempt from central business district tolling; instead, the plan would include a surcharge on metered taxi trips south of 96th Street in Manhattan "in rough proportion" to their contribution to congestion.
Alternatives for funding regional transportation, according to Schwartz, aren't workable. They include raising the gas tax by 46 cents a gallon in the 12 counties the MTA serves; raising sales tax there by two-thirds to three-quarters of a percentage point; more than doubling the payroll mobility tax across the 12-county MTA region, a move already unpopular in the suburbs; restoring the commuter tax; and issuing more debt, which would mean locking in ever-higher fares and tolls.
In 2009, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion-pricing proposal died at the feet of state legislators in Albany.
"One of the reasons it failed is that we didn't fund roads and bridges. This is a critical element of the plan we're putting forward this time around," said Elliot Sander, former MTA chief executive and now president and CEO of engineering consulting firm Haks Group Inc.
Alex Matthiessen, president and founder of environmental consulting firm Blue Marble Project and Move NY's campaign director, said the Schwartz plan is less top-down than Bloomberg's.
"Past opponents like Mark Weprin appreciate being asked for their input," he said.
Weprin remains skeptical over whether tolls would remain down, and whether dedicated funds would remain in lockbox mode. "Sam Schwartz said the lockbox is going to happen and we're going to hold him to that," he said.
Supporters of the Move NY plan intend to hold a series of public forums over the rest of the year to generate support and adjust the plan, if needed.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking to reporters Friday, spoke highly of Schwartz.
"I think he's a really smart guy," he said. "I really do. I've talked to him about his plan. There's some interesting and innovative ideas in it."
The plan surfaced less than two weeks after the think tank Center for an Urban Future released a 68-page report calling for $47 billion in capital spending over five years. The report preceded by one day a building explosion and collapse in East Harlem, killing eight people.
Infrastructure is a hot topic - for now.
"It's easier at the moment to raise awareness," said Schwartz. "But what I've learned about infrastructure is that after a while, people forget."
