Ben Fried

John Petro and Dan Morris at the Drum Major Institute have a great op-ed in the Albany Times-Union today, asking the candidates for governor how they plan to deal with New York's transit funding crisis. With the largest MTA service cut in a generation barely behind us, the third fare hike in three years looming in January, a $9 billion hole in the agency's five-year capital plan, and a huge pile of debt that threatens to make future fare hikes steep and painful, the next governor needs to build support for bold funding solutions. Incremental steps won't cut it.

This afternoon the MTA officially unveiled the fare and toll increases it's proposing to help close the agency's remaining $400 million budget gap. The dailies had already reported many of the measures on the table, and it looks like the burden is going to fall mainly on New Yorkers who use subways and buses the most. The price of a monthly unlimited Metrocard is either going up to $99 with a 90-ride cap, or it'll go up to $104 and stay truly unlimited.

Today, for the first time, New Yorkers braved the morning rush using our new, diminished transit system. With more than a dozen bus lines discontinued over the weekend, dozens more running less frequently, and subway service changes forcing straphangers to cope with longer rides and more crowded platforms, no one expects an orderly transition.

This clip from yesterday's Assembly Transportation Committee meeting doesn't quite live up to the hype.

You read that right.

At yesterday's meeting of the State Senate codes committee, Hayley and Diego's Law passed in a 13-3 vote. The bill, which should give prosecutors greater leeway to bring charges against motorists who injure or kill pedestrians and cyclists, now moves to the finance committee. It passed the full Assembly earlier this week.

Yesterday the New York City Council voted 46-4 to keep dedicated bus lanes free of traffic using camera enforcement. The measure, known as a home rule message, is a necessary step before state legislation can authorize a bus cam program. Attention now turns to Albany, where the bill faces critical votes in both the Assembly and State Senate in the days ahead.

A few minutes ago, Hayley and Diego's Law cleared a vote in the full State Assembly. The next hurdle is the codes committee in the fractious State Senate, where it's scheduled to come up for a vote tomorrow.

For as long as Streetsblog has been covering the transportation reform beat, Albany has been a graveyard for progressive transportation legislation affecting New York City. Sheldon Silver and Assembly Democrats buried congestion pricing there in 2008. The State Senate poured cement shoes for bridge tolls last year, hobbling the attempt to provide the MTA with greater financial stability. Now our transit system is shrinking, and the fiscal disaster that the state has unleashed on bus and subway riders seems poised to grow worse.