I don't know if you trust the Daily News any more than you trust Officialdom, but here's an interesting article:
"New York's cost projections changed several times from January
to April, when Bloomberg first threw his support behind the plan.
An early draft estimated that 44.4% of the system's revenue would
be swallowed by operating costs, but by April, the figure was down
to 35.2%."
"While the mayor's plan assumes it will cost $232 million a year
to operate the system, just two little tweaks in the model -
four sensors per trip, and 75cents to read a license plate -
would raise the cost to $685 million per year, leaving nothing
for mass transit. City profit would also be squeezed if the MTA
or Port Authority raises tolls on bridges and tunnels, because
those tolls are credited against the congestion pricing fee."
"MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander has said he expects
congestion pricing to raise $100 million to $200million for
mass transit - not enough to cover the agency's extra costs."
Doug quotes:
>> Myth: A majority of non-Manhattan residents rely on their cars
>> to commute to Manhattan.
Speaking of strawmen ...
Anyway, now that it didn't pass, we can talk about better ways to raise money to pay for transit.
/jordan