TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

To Whom It May Concern:
I am a Horseheads to Ithaca commuter and something needs to be done about the congestion during rush hour at the southern end of Ithaca on NYS Route 13, specifically where NYS Rte. 13 and NYS Rtes. 34/96 come together just before reaching the NYS Rte. 327 intersection. That whole stretch from there to the first red light near Dunkin' Donuts, Home Depot, etc., is a hazard and heavily congested just before 8AM Mon.-Fri. Just before 9AM can be just as bad, but I'm more familiar with just before 8AM. TCAT only services Newfield near Rte. 13 and the discounted CTRAN (not free) bus runs only once to/from Elmira and Cornell in the morning and then again in the evening. It picks up at 6:15am (Elmira) and 6:30am (Horseheads) in Chemung County. They also stop at Alpine Junction in Schuyler County. Another later bus option would be nice as more people may ride the bus if they know there is a later bus option. My schedule got weird so riding the bus became inconvenient. There are a ton of people who commute from the Southern Tier because good paying jobs are scarce in that area but real estate is cheap. So they commute to their jobs in Ithaca and live in the Southern Tier. I am one of them. Tompkins County is an expensive place to live.

TCAT lost funding a few years ago so I gave up even parking in the free lot on Cornell campus. They became too unreliable with the unpredictable traffic delays I get in the morning. If I leave earlier, the Newfield Schools have a school bus that stops at almost every driveway. This bus runs from the Schuyler County line just before the roundabout in Newfield. This bus no longer pulls to the side of the road to let traffic go by like they used to. It used to pull over twice, then once, and now not at all. So I still end up in the congested mess if I leave earlier from Horseheads. If I leave earlier than 7am, I've gotten behind a slow moving tractor trailer going literally 35 MPH in a 55 MPH zone through the flat, straight section of the road. This lasted for about 5 miles with a line of traffic trying to get around it. Therefore, I still got into this mess again and got to work at the same time.

Attached is a .pdf with some pictures with additional concerns about the lack of left turning lanes and lack of early road closure signs that would reduce chaos and congestion.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

I don't think this is the final answer, but in the interim we need initiatives like this one to lead to other bigger more sustainable forms of transport.

A <$0.20 tax per gallon of fuel is a drop in the bucket, and I hope it's an easy win to fund better transport.

Expanded reliable bus service is a start, but a high speed train such as the one between Connecticut and NYC would be amazing with service between NJ and NYC. I know there is a train right now but it has far too many stops, is too slow, and too expensive (I take a bus into the Port Authority every day instead, but the traffic sucks!).

In addition to increases in gas taxes, we need to increase tolls on the roads between NJ and NY and CT and NJ and CT and NY.

Please support electric transportation because it is the right thing to do to reduce emissions. Climate change is an urgent issue and we can no longer postpone action.
Thank you.

I agree with the Transpiration Climate Initiative in concept, but not with the timing of it. Vermont is one of the most environmentally clean states already and will struggle to meet the goals set by this plan. I include the following comments:
I. In Rural Vermont, this tax (that you say is not a tax) is discriminatory and will place an undue burden upon most lower and middle class citizens who are already working two jobs to make ends meet and pay their taxes. This initiative will drive more businesses and people out of Vermont.
II. Even with the incentive that Governor Scott has added to his budget to enable Vermonters to purchase an electric or hybrid vehicle, most Vermonters will not be able to afford to get out of their current car payment (usually a car with 150K miles on it that they are working another job to pay for) and purchase a new, electric vehicle. Also, there are no used electric or hybrid vehicles on the market now.
III. There is not an adequate mass transportation system available to enable people to get to Rutland to work an off shift. Even if there were, if someone was required to work an additional shift to provide additional funding support for their family, the current system doesn’t operate after 8:00 PM.
IV. Now that NH has dropped out of the regional initiative and NY has not committed to it, when the price of gasoline and diesel goes up because of TCI, Vermonters will simply go to those states to buy their fuels. You are naive to think that you will be able to force people to comply with your initiative. You probably haven’t noticed that fuel stations in the states along the Vermont border have been adding more gasoline pumps in anticipation of this CARBON TAX!
V. I understand that there is a plan for Vermont to sell carbon credits for businesses who don’t comply with this initiative. I also understand that the forests of our state which sequester the carbon will be used to calculate this carbon off-set. 89% of Vermont forest land is privately owned. You can’t sell carbon credits from trees that you don’t own. I own 250 acres of timber land. I asked the question last night; “Will the state pay me for my trees and the carbon they sequester” and was told that I didn’t own enough to be considered. I was also told that maybe if I joined with adjacent property owners to combine our acreage, that maybe the initiative would provide some offset to me. This seizure of property rights in unconstitutional and will not be allowed.

In 35 years we will run out of fossil fuel and we will have developed the technology to be mobile and competitive in a new world economy. Why do we have to comply with an unreasonable, futuristic standard now? We have already cut emissions and found alternative methods of going to meeting through advances of the internet. Workers are now able to telecommute to work and stay at home, work and care for their young children in the process.
Why don’t we develop a plan for phasing out the internal combustion engine over the next 10 years and let technology advance along the way so that when we get to the point of no fossil fuel, we can have everyone on board with the new plan? We can do this for the next 10 years as technology advance and our forests continue to sequester carbon from the other pollution sources in the world.

As transportation is our largest source of global warming emissions (regionally and nationally), I request that Connecticut formally join the plan to reduce emissions. This policy must have a strong component of equity by prioritizing clean investments in areas overburdened by pollution and/or for those who don't have access. I am encouraged by the bipartisan nature of this project, moving us forward while the federal government takes us backward.