In a letter to the Governor, Task Force Chair E. Virgil Conway recommended that in the near term, appropriate agencies develop transportation demand management measures, like corporate van-pools, and that the NY State Thruway Authority board consider implementing congestion relief pricing on the Tappan Zee Bridge. The long-term recommendation, which has generated controversy all winter and spring, is for the Thruway and Metro-North Railroad to begin environmental impact reviews for replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge and constructing an extensive rail transit or guided bus system serving Orange, Rockland and Westchester Counties.

Concerns about the long-term recommendation that continue to be expressed by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and others turn largely on the relative feasibilities of building the new bridge and the transit system. Where the Thruway Authority is solvent and could raise revenue for a Tappan Zee replacement, the transit system's route, operator and financing are unknown. Moreover, the MTA is launching a new capital program based on extraordinary levels of debt (see above) that could preclude the agency's future ability to build the Orange/Rockland/Westchester transit system, estimated to cost $3 billion. These very different tales of the road and transit agencies led the Regional Plan Association's Jeff Zupan to tell the NY Times that any Tappan Zee replacement project would likely be remembered more as a highway widening project than a mass transit one.

The report gave short shrift to restoration of passenger service on the West Shore Line, even though it said the project could be done much sooner than a Rockland-Westchester rail line, and that nearly 30% of peak Tappan Zee traffic consists of Rockland-NYC trips.

On WCBS radio Thursday, Governor Pataki expressed support for a replacement bridge with rail, but did not address questions on rail feasibility or funding.

Four public information meetings on the Task Force report will be held in May (see Calendar section).

Meanwhile, Hudson Valley citizens and elected officials joined forces to protest the fast-tracking of the Tappan Zee replacement bridge. Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner, Orangetown Supervisor Thom Kleiner and Tarrytown Mayor Paul Janos are leading an effort to get resolutions against the project from Westchester and Rockland town and village boards. Monthly rallies are expected to be held along the Thruway. The first attracted nearly 100 protesters to Tarrytown on Saturday.