Ravitch Explains MTA Bailout Plan

New York, NY —

Richard Ravitch, the man credited with saving the MTA in the 1980s, will face tough questions from state Assembly members today. They're conducting a hearing on his proposal, which was unveiled last week to rescue the MTA by imposing a payroll tax on the region's businesses, and by putting tolls on bridges over the East and Harlem Rivers that are currently free.

Elected officials from Brooklyn and Queens are already denouncing the bridge tolls, and have offered up other alternatives instead.

WNYC's Matthew Schuerman sat down with Ravitch this week to ask him whether his ideas will fare any better than Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing proposal, which died earlier this year in the state legislature.