Astoria Assemblywoman Backs Congestion Pricing

While Albany debates the best way to solve the subway and bus crisis, Astoria’s local assemblywoman is supporting a measure to reduce congestion while providing funding to fix the subways.

Aravella Simotas announced last week that she is backing congestion pricing, calling it the “only viable solution” to both fund and fix the broken mass transit system and keep fares affordable.

Here’s what she had to say in a statement about her position:

What we have now is a broken system with awful service, chronic delays and an atrocious lack of accessibility that is devastating to the elderly, to the disabled and to families with small children. Congestion pricing is a sustainable source of funding but it has to be the right plan which will include a method of exempting disabled people and the elderly from the tax when they travel to Manhattan for medical care”.