MTA: 60% of Orange County Commuters Would Have Benefited From Congestion Pricing
A follow-up to yesterday's post involving State Senator James Skoufis and his empty declaration of victory over the MTA's congestion pricing system.
Before we get into events in and around Monroe, I want to quickly follow-up on yesterday’s post involving State Senator James Skoufis.
A lot of you had questions about the congestion tax, what its death means for Southern Orange County, and who our senator “works for.”
I’d like to take some time today to answer those questions before we move on to our next story.
So, we’re going to get right into answering your questions …
How Many People Commute Using Mass Transit in OC?
Some of you asked if there was any data that existed to demonstrate the impact congestion pricing would have had on Orange County commuters.
I know many people have been adamant in their opposition to the toll, but I have yet to see any data to suggest how many of us would have actually benefited from it.
So, I’ve reached out to both the Orange County Transportation Council and the MTA to see if any such data exists.
I haven’t heard back from Orange County just yet. But the MTA did get right back to me.
According to the MTA, 3,600 commuters from Orange County — about 60% — take mass transit. An additional 2,400 travel by car. You can see that data here on Page 11 in your PDF viewer, Figure 1.6
So, right off the bat, assuming those numbers are accurate, those 2,400 people traveling by car are not the majority of Orange County commuters.
Despite this, these commuters got the bulk of the attention from the media and our politicians with their justifiable complaints about the congestion pricing.
But those complaints drowned out the fact that the majority of Orange County commuters would have directly benefited from the congestion pricing system.
I’m not making an argument here for or against congestion pricing.
But I am pointing out the following:
That the congestion pricing system would have generated the money that the majority of Orange County commuters needed, in order to have mass transit service on par with our neighboring counties.
So, without the congestion pricing — whether you are for or against it — There’s now a huge financial and environmental problem that needs to be solved.
State Senator Skoufis did not address this problem in his email where he loudly proclaimed victory over the Congestion Pricing system.
Who’s Going To Pay For The Port Jervis Line Upgrades Now?
The senator, at this time, has not provided any information as to how we’re going to come up with the $277M needed to make the Port Jervis line fully operational.
Or if you prefer, “on par” with the service provided by MTA to other counties.
I want to stress, we need that train line.
Not just for the majority of Orange County commuters, but to help get cars off the road, and lesson the traffic impact of any Woodbury Common expansion and further population growth will have.
The Port Jervis line is not a “nice to have.”
The Port Jervis line is a critical piece of infrastructure that will help Orange County residents manage development properly while minimizing the impacts of climate change.
(Also, for the record, New Jersey Transit operates the Port Jervis Line via a contract with Metro North. A few people were confused by this, so I wanted to clarify who actually owns the train line, the MTA, and who operates it, which is New Jersey Transit. Make sense?)
According to sources familiar with the matter, the MTA had nearly $30B in funds to be awarded for projects, such as the Port Jervis Line upgrade, in the 2020-2024 capital program.
Half of that $30B would have been generated from the congestion pricing.
So, now you’re looking at $13B left in terms of what the MTA has on hand for projects. You can see the MTA’s official response to the loss of funding here.
Prior to the pause of congestion pricing, the MTA had $28b in remaining funds to be awarded for projects in the 2020-2024 capital program, of which $15b was to come from congestion pricing.
Without the $15b, only $13b remains.
Is Orange County going to get anything from that $13B? It doesn’t sound like it.
So, now not only are Southern Orange County residents on the hook for a $203M sewer expansion project, but they are now ALSO on the hook for the $277M needed for equivalent services provided by the MTA on the Port Jervis line.
Anyone got a spare $480M floating around?
Who Does This Guy Work For?
I know you should never put stock into what people say on Facebook, but …
Senator Skoufis does not “work for the Jews” as I’ve seen implied.
Yes. He took $70,000 from members of the local hate group, the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove.
But he’s also accepted A LOT of money from the crazy people at The Epoch Times.
Currently, at least one high ranking employee of The Epoch Times was accused by the DOJ for being involved in an extensive money laundering scheme. Given that Senator Skoufis declined to give back the money he received from the local hate group, the UJC, it’s a safe bet he also won’t return all the money he got from people linked to this “newspaper.”
And he’s taken even MORE money from real estate interests here in New York.
So, it’s wrong to implicate the senator is solely in the pocket of hanhallah (Aaron Teitelbuam, Zalman Teitelbaum, and other leaders).
Those accusations also border on antisemitism, so I encourage you to flag them if you see them on Facebook as hate speech.
It’s right to say the senator is for sale to the highest bidder, as I’ve done so here. One of those bidders just so happens to be a local hate group. And that specific group, just so happens to be made up of Satmar members.
See the difference?
The specifics matter.
Joel Stern, Moche Halpern, and Isaac Eckstein, among others, do NOT reflect the actions of an entire community.
They are schmucks who just so happen to be Satmar.
Schmucks exist in every community.
Let’s help spread that message.
So, What Are We Going to Do About This Guy?
Finally, there’s a question to be answered here about what to do with State Senator Skoufis. He’s not all bad. But he’s bad on the big issues.
His challenger this Fall is running a legitimately antisemitic campaign.
On June 25th, those of you enrolled in the Conservative Party will be able to decide whether or not Tim Mitts should get on the ballot this Fall instead of Dorey Houle on the Conservative line.
But neither Mitts nor Houle are going to solve the larger problem here.
Mitts will take votes away from Houle, and Houle will lose to Skoufis.
That means, you’re still stuck with Skoufis, who — whether you like him or not — is definitely for sale to the highest bidder.
The ideal situation is that Skoufis beats Houle and/or Mitts, and then his challenger(s) immediately announce their attention to primary him. Like, the next day. Or as soon as the election is concluded.
If you want things to change, then he can’t have any time for peace.
This way, Skoufis spends the next year or so looking over his shoulder, knowing that every vote or move he makes is going to be examined, reported on, and responded to by his challengers.
Yes. You’ll be stuck with him again for another term.
But he’d know his days in office are numbered.
And maybe that’ll be enough to get him to stop some of the BS.
And if it’s not?
Good news, you got new candidates coming to actually evict him from office.