Submitted by Carolyn Konheim, Nov 3, 2007 14:11

Mayor Bloomberg's eloquent advocacy of a carbon tax as getting to the heart of the matter sugests he'll trade in his elaborate congestion pricing infrastructure for a streamlined system that could prove its worth within his term of office.

As the mayor said about bookkeeping appoaches to reducing CO2, why run around in a circle, when 3 right turns would get you where you want? Why should the City search for $179 million to erect cameras and monitors up and down every avenue of 60th or 86th St to screen and retain data on 2,796,000 vehicle movements business day to locate the needle in a haystack CBD resident who hasn't already been charged?

Why do it when the $10.4 million he has from the feds for a true pilot test would catch every entry by a single pass under the same equipment on 6 inbound spans of the four free bridges and on 13 southbound roads crossing 60th St?

Charging the 76% of drivers who now enter free would more than meet the mayor's congestion reduction goal beyond the CBD, cost 1/25 to build, 1/10 to operate and generate a reliable $500 million a year for transit?

The answer to capturing interna trips is right under the mayors nosewhen he overnights in London. When he walks out of his flat surely the mayor sees curb markings that prohbit parking without a permit, taxi stands, people using cell phones to hook up wth GPS-dispatched taxis and signs at bus stops posting short waits for dollar fare buses.

If the mayor applies his "right turn" principle to reducing internal trips, he'll soon conclude London-style targeted measures would be far more effective than installing a 340 station ACLU-troubling tracking network to record a discounted charge for illusive internal drivers so they can travel the rest of the day free.

Are ready to take the three right turns?

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