The Campaign was joined by environmental, transportation policy and transit advocates in backing the pricing plan. The Daily News and NJ's Home News Tribune followed the hearings with editiorials reiterating support for the plan. "The toll increases are meant to discourage peak travel into New York City and to encourage the use of E-ZPass - both of which are a boon to the environment and to the surrounding neighborhoods, whose streets and air are routinely clogged with cars and their exhaust," said the Home News Tribune. The paper said criticism of the plan by soon-to-be NJ Governor Donald DiFrancesco "reeks of placation and of poor environmental stewardship."

However, criticism of the plan was heavy at hearings in Jersey City, Staten Island and Bergen County. In Jersey City, protesting testimony focused on the PATH fare increase.

In the areas west of the Hudson or the harbor poorly connected to the region's rail network - Bergen County and Staten Island - the hearings spotlighted how the absence of good mass transit service is a huge point of contention regarding the Port Authority plan and transportation planning in general. Unfortunately, the PA's innovative congestion pricing program is coming at a time when the core transit systems in New York and New Jersey are facing major budget problems - NY in finding capital funding to expand its system, and NJ in providing sufficient operating funds to add to increasingly crowded train and bus service.

Still, congestion pricing's main tenet is not to shift large numbers of car commuters into mass transit. Rather, it is that removal of a small number of peak period car trips from the roads can yield considerable traffic flow benefits to the remaining motorists. Data from a variety of studies and surveys in the region generally reveal a measure of non-work-related travel on the road during rush hours. Reducing those trips, and shifting a small percentage of others to transit or carpooling is what the Port Authority road pricing plan will try to achieve.

Better public education on this point would help meet the great deal of testimony that acknowledged the idea of congestion pricing "in theory," but complained that most people had no choice about when to drive.

On the other hand, it won't help where reaction to the toll plan is more emotional and political than a consideration of the facts. On Staten Island, for instance, testimony overwhelmingly focused on the worst case increase: someone in the under-subscribed Staten Island bridges discount plan having his or her toll raised from $2 to $4.50. No Staten Island citizens or officials mentioned the reduction in off-peak Staten Island tolls to $3, a feature that stands to save many Staten Islanders toll money.

The worst testimony embraced the status quo as a positive alternative to the Port Authority's proposed innovations. In spite of terrible congestion and constant public calls for relief there, the NY chapter of the AAA held out the example of the congestion-promoting Tappan Zee Bridge commuter discount program - where frequent rush hour drivers pay the lowest tolls - as its view of enlightened toll policy.

The Daily News summed up the week best: "Outraged commuters at the Port Authority's public hearings... complained about the steep toll and fare increases. But, in reality, they're not as high as they seem, thanks to discounts that encourage travel during off-peak hours. That's known as congestion pricing, and if it catches on at the PA, it could spread to other transportation agencies around the country," said the paper's Wednesday editorial.



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