First, no particular agency has really taken the lead in setting priorities on transit alternatives for Northern New Jersey.

"By recommending transit alternatives that are too expensive and unpopular," she said, "the Department of Transportation will have gotten away with the plan it always intended, which is just to widen roads."

The City of Toronto, along with the Province of Ontario, is focused instead on transit alternatives.

And the street space freed from cars could be used for various transit alternatives - from trolley cars or electric buses to commuter vans and bicycles.

Several transit alternatives were presented to the neighborhood, including bus rapid transit, light rail, and a streetcar.

To that end, Dom proposes a "seminal transit alternative" for the Staten Island community.

Indeed, car pools are a popular transit alternative in the West.

Any employer with 50 or more full-time employees is required to participate in the program, which seeks to convince employees to use transit alternatives.

This parking subsidy served as an incentive, in some cases a significant incentive, to drive to work even in areas where there was a good transit alternative.

The discounts are even more generous at the Staten Island crossings, where commuters have the fewest mass transit alternatives.