July 23, 2008: In an article entitled "Give Mike Bloomberg the trains, too" in New York Daily News Opinions, Errol Louis recommended that "New York also should give serious consideration to a proposal by lawyer Theodore Kheel that would substantially boost parking, taxi and driving charges in Manhattan - and use the money to make the entire subway system free."

July 3, 2008: An article by Charles Komanoff appeared in Streetsblog
entitled "High Gas Prices Won't Cure Gridlock"

June 27, 2008 The New York Observer published an article entitled
"Transportation Advocates Agree: The M.T.A. Is in 'Deep Doo-Doo" which quoted Kheel's views on the politics of congestion pricing as follows: "The promotion, I thought, was in the wrong order. If you start out with free transit, you start out with something people would welcome."

June 26, 2008 Ted Kheel joined a panel on "Traffic Congestion and the Future of Mass Transit," which was moderated by Assemblyman Mike Kellner and included Jeff Zupan of the Regional Plan Association and Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.

June 26, 2008 Ted Kheel spoke to the New York City Transit Riders Council about free transit and his history of working for transit reform.

June 24, 2008 Ted Kheel is quoted in an article in the Observer on transit financing entitled "Next Stop: Trouble". The article quotes Kheel as calling on the Port Authority, with its great revenue-raising capacity, to spend more of its money on regional transportation projects. According to Kheel, "That agency is the ideal agency to come to grips with this problem of congestion."

June 13, 2008 The Sierra Club took note of the Kheel Plan in an article entitled "Pains, Trains, And Automobiles" published the Club's newsletter, "The Green Life".

June 3, 2008 Charles Komanoff gave a special presentation for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) entitled "A New Transportation Analysis Tool" where he discussed the Balanced Transportation Analyzer, or BTA developed for the Kheel Plan.

June 2, 2008 Streetsblog posted an article entitled "'Kheel Plan II' to Revive Free Transit Proposal for '09 Races".

May 28, 2008 Author Bill McKibben, taking inspiration from the Kheel plan, publishes an article in Plenty Magazine entitled "Bill McKibben Tackles the Congestion Pricing Issue by Offering an Unexpected Alternative: Free Public Transit for All."

May 22, 2008 Garett Sloane, amNewYork's Business Editor, published an interview with NNYN President Ted Kheel.

April 2008 The Bus Riders Union of Austin, Texas published "A Proposal for Free Public Transit and Improved System Efficiency in Austin, Texas." The authors wrote that the Kheel Report as well as the Balanced Transportation Analyzer helped them in their analysis, and also served as a source of inspiration.

April 21, 2008 Streetsblog posted an article entitled "Kheel to Push Free Transit Pricing Plan in '09 Mayoral Race".

April 21, 2008 The Daily News blog posted an article entitled "Kheel Plans To Put His Money Where His Mouth Is In '09".

April 10, 2008 Ted Kheel issued a statement announcing his plans for continuing the fight for a more balanced transportation system, which include a grant of $170,000 to expand the Balanced Transportation Analyzer, an analytic tool that forms the basis for the Kheel plan for free transit.

March 27, 2008 Charles Komanoff gave a talk entitled "Beyond Congestion Pricing: The Kheel Plan for Free Transit" to the New York Metro Chapter of the American Planning Association.

March 10, 2008 Charles Komanoff spoke about the Kheel Plan to a gathering at Solar 1, the Green Energy Arts and Education Center in New York.

March 13, 2008 The Riverdale Press published Charles Komanoff's reply to its March 6 Editorial comment on the Kheel plan.

March 6, 2008 The Riverdale Press published an Editorial comment entitled "Is there such a thing as a free ride?" discussing the free transit plan of long time Riverdale resident Ted Kheel.

February 20, 2008 The New York Press published an article entitled "TEDDY'S LAST JAM: 93-year-old Theodore Kheel wants to make mass transit free."

February 13, 2008 The Tri-State Transportation Campaign posted an article entitled "Kheel Plan's Powerful Ideas Won't Fade From Public View".

February 12, 2008 An Op Ed by Ted Kheel appeared in City Hall News entitled "Free Mass Transit for Only a $16 Fee."

February 11, 2008 An online environmental publication called Grist posted an article entitled "A Climate for Old Men: Spearheading Traffic for Livable Cities at 93," by Charles Komanoff.

February 10, 2008 In a debate hosted by Gabe Pressman on NBC, Kathryn Wylde of the Partnership for New York City said that the Kheel plan for free transit "is an ideal scenario" and Assemblyman Richard Brodsky commented that "He's done something interesting and important. [Kheel's] reminded us that maybe the way to change behavior is to incentivize people."

January 31, 2008 The New York Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission issued its final recommendation on a congestion pricing plan. The Commission recommended an $8 fee for automobiles to drive into Manhattan south of 60th Street on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

January 31, 2008: The Downtown Express published an Op Ed by Charles Komanoff, lead researcher on the free transit report, entitled: "How about free subways to go with that traffic pricing?"

January 31, 2008: Andrew Revkin of the New York Times published an article and accompanying video on Dot Earth entitled "Managing Traffic in the Urban Age," which discusses the traffic woes of urban areas and potential solutions, including the free transit plan of Ted Kheel.

January 27, 2008 Newsday carried an article on the free transit plan entitled "City Drivers? Make 'em Pay."

January 24, 2008 NY 1 reporter Bobby Cuza did a story on the release of the final free report. To view his coverage, and read the text, click here.

January 24, 2008 A front page story on the free transit report appeared in the New York edition of the free daily newspaper Metro.

January 24, 2008 Charles Komanoff, lead author of the free transit report, shared some thoughts on the report with key policymakers. To read his message, click here.

January 24, 2008 The final report, "A Bolder Plan, Balancing Free Transit and Congestion Pricing in New York City," was released.

January 17, 2008: George Haikalis testified regarding the implications of the free transit proposal at an MTA hearing on increasing the transit fare. To read his statement, click here.

January 16, 2008 Ted Kheel testified regarding NNYN's study on free transit at a public hearing of the New York City Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission regarding its interim report. To read his statement, click here.

Jan. 11, 2008: WorldChanging posted an article entitled "Free Transit for All" discussing Kheel's free transit proposal.

Jan. 10, 2008: The Daily News published an Op Ed by Ted Kheel called "To tame traffic, make subways & buses free - yes, free."

Jan. 10, 2008: Another Quinnipiac poll found that New Yorker voters are in favor of congestion pricing by a 60- 37 margin if the money is used to help transit.

Jan. 7, 2008: The Gothamist published an interview entitled "Ted Kheel, Founder of the Nurture Nature Foundation," where Kheel discussed NNYN's free transit study.

Dec. 20, 2007: Charles Komanoff, research director and lead modeler of the free transit report, discussed the report in a 20-minute interview on WBAI. The interview can be accessed here. Note that the interview begins about eight minutes in, after some introductory material.

Dec. 20, 2007 Ted Kheel and George Haikalis appeared on NY 1's half hour feature "Inside City Hall." A clip from the interview may be viewed here.

Dec. 19, 2007: Marcia Kramer interviewed Kheel for WCBS news. The story, called "Imagine This: Riding Buses & Subways For Free-- One Man's Plan Would Raise $4 Billion For Mass Transit," may be read and viewed here.

Dec. 18, 2007: Streetsblog published a story on "Kheel Plan: Double the Congestion Charge & Make Transit Free."

December 18, 2007: New York Magazine published an article entitled "Fare Enough" on Ted Kheel's free transit proposal.

December 17, 2007: Ted Kheel mailed a letter to each of the 22 members of the MTA's board urging them to consider a Mini-Report of the free transit research team. The text of the letter, with enclosures, may be viewed here.

December 14, 2007: Ted Kheel mailed a letter to each of the 17 members of the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission urging them to consider a Mini-Report of the free transit research team. The text of the letter, with enclosures, may be viewed here.

Dec. 11, 2007: The Observer published an article entitled "Ted Kheel: Make Subways and Buses Free".

December 10, 2007: Majora Carter, Executive Director of the Sustainable South Bronx, commented on a preliminary report of the free transit research team that this was worthy of exploration, and that Sustainable South Bronx welcomes efforts to rethink the way transit is paid for in order to make it more affordable and accessible to underserved communities. A copy of the statement is available here.

November 19, 2007: Another Quinnipiac Poll showed that New York City voters would support congestion pricing by a 53-41 margin if it "prevents a hike in mass transit fares." The new poll also showed that a majority of voters would oppose the idea of congestion pricing when not paired with fare relief.

August 30, 2007: A Quinnipiac Poll was released showing that 57% of the voters polled would support congestion pricing if the money were used to prevent an increase in mass transit fares and bridge and tunnel tolls.

August 14, 2007: The Secretary of Transportation announced that the federal government will provide $354 million to implement congestion pricing in New York City, if the State Legislature acts by March 2008 to put in effect a congestion pricing plan in Manhattan. Click here and here for details.

July, 2007 An article by NNYN's consultant George Haikailis, entitled "The Best Things in Life are Free: So Why not Public Transit in NYC" was published on the inside front cover of Transportation Alternatives, the official magazine of a transportation advocacy organization with nearly 5,000 members.

July 26, 2007 The Alternet posted an article entitled "Fare-Free Public Transit Could Be Headed to a City Near You" (adapted from a five-part series noted above), which generated a lively online discussion of the free transit issue.

July 9-16, 2007: Citing Bloomberg's position that free mass transit is good public policy, the Tyee, an independent online pub in British Columbia, published a series of articles with information supporting free mass transit, which includes among other thing a list of cities that have adopted some form of it. See articles at:
Click here for the first article
Click here for the second article
Click here for the third article
Click here for the fourth article
Click here for the fifth article
Click here for the sixth article

June 28, 2007, the New York Sun published an additional article following up on the study and NY1 news carried another story on it.

June 26, 2007, George Haikalis presented a progress report summarizing some preliminary results of the Price Matters Study at the Auto-Free New York meeting (see www.auto-free.org). To view the information presented in that progress report, click here.

June 11, 2007: Gabe Pressman commented on Ted Kheel's free transit proposal in "Gabe's View: Free Subways and Buses."

June 8, 2007: At a hearing of the New York State Assembly on the Mayor's sustainability plan, IRUM submitted comments regarding the need for reduced or free fares. For the full statement, click here.

June 7, 2007: Legislation was introduced in the NY State Senate to help implement congestion pricing. That day, Mayor Bloomberg also recognized the relationship of mass transit pricing and congestion pricing, observing that congestion pricing could help the MTA avoid fare increases. The Mayor's comments followed an analysis by the city showing that transit fares could go as high as $3 over the next three years. For additional details on the Mayor's statement,
click here.

May 28-June 1: George Haikalis of The Institute for Rational Mobility (IRUM) traveled to San Francisco to find out more about the free transit study being conducted there. For a report on his findings, click here.)

May 16, 2007: NNYN joined the Campaign for New York's Future, a coalition of civic, business, environmental, labor, community and public health organizations that support the goals and strategic direction of PlaNYC.

April 23, 2007: Mayor Bloomberg released PlaNYC2030, strongly endorsing congestion pricing, a concept that he had rejected as impractical a few months earlier. For details on the transportation component of the Mayor's plan, click here. Although it is a bold and exciting initiative, and provides for various mass transit improvements, the Mayor's plan omits mention of any fare relief for mass transit passengers.

April 11, 2007: NNYN produced an 84 page brochure entitled "The Road Not Taken" that was distributed at a panel discussion at the Museum of the City of New York on Robert Moses and Transportation. To read Kheel's introduction to the brochure, which explains its relevance to NNYN's free mass transit proposal and the current transit situation in New York, click here.

April 1, 2007: The New York Times published an Op Ed article entitled "Bridge and Tunnel Vision" by Ted Kheel regarding the Robert Moses exhibits and traffic in New York City. In it, Kheel reiterated support for both free mass transit and congestion pricing, explaining that revenues generated by congestion pricing could subsidize the fare. To read the article, click here.

March 1, 2007: IRUM's President, George Haikalis, provided testimony to the New York City Council Transportation Committee on the need to consider reducing or eliminating entirely the fares charged for transit service. To read the testimony, click here.

To view developments and press coverage in the weeks immediately following announcement of NNYN's free transit study, click here.

For other information on free transit, click here.