The New York Times informs that New York City will receive $354 million from the Federal government to implement the mayor's congestion pricing scheme. That's a drop in the bucket of our annual ten billion deficit vis-à-vis the Federal government - that being the difference between what New Yorkers pay and what gets spent here - but a step in the right direction.

The United States Department of Transportation announced today that it has allocated $354 million to help Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg finance his plan to reduce traffic in Manhattan by charging tolls to drivers entering the busiest parts of the borough.

The announcement, by Mary E. Peters, the secretary of transportation, is a major lift for the mayor, and is likely to increase pressure on legislative leaders who have balked at the plan to let the city move forward. Ms. Peters said that the city would receive $1.6 million initially, but that the State Legislature must assent to the plan within 90 days of convening — roughly by the end of March 2008 —before the city can receive the balance.

Leaving aside the disturbing idea that this plan requires action by the state legislature - never a good thing - the congestion pricing plan is good Progressive policy. The simple fact is that car ownership is heavily subsidized by the state over other forms of transportation, including mass transit, simply by the maintenance of the infrastructure that makes driving a car possible. It starts with the building and maintenance of roads, bridges, tunnels, and so on; should include the cost of police units that regulate traffic and investigate infractions of traffic rules; the vast amount of public space given over exclusively to cars, including most freeways, roads, and parking spaces; continues through the Department of Motor Vehicles; and needs to include the massive environmental and health costs associated with the automobile. In economic theory, the totality of public subsidies for automobiles is a classic market distortion.