NEW YORK — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has blocked plans to begin congestion-pricing tolling for vehicles entering lower Manhattan, postponing indefinitely the start of a program opposed by commuters and other groups but blowing a hole in the financial plans of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Assessment of the tolls — which include a $15 fee for passenger vehicles entering Manhattan below 60th Street during peak periods — was slated to begin June 30, although the plan faced eight lawsuits from various opponents.
Hochul said in a statement today (Wednesday, June 6) that the plan “risks too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers at this time. … I cannot add another burden to working- and middle-class New Yorkers — or create another obstacle to continued recovery.” And so, she said, she was directing the MTA to “pause” the program indefinitely.
Hochel said her administration remains “fully committed” to already announced MTA infrastructure projects, ranging from track repairs and signal upgrades to extension of the Second Avenue Subway and the Interborough Express light rail line, but did not indicate how those projects would be paid for.
The MTA has previously said that an anticipated $15 billion from congestion pricing make up more than 50% of the funds in its capital program, and earlier this year outlined the projects relying on that money [see “MTA details projects at risk …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 27, 2024]. Funds raised by the toll were to be dedicated solely to MTA transit projects.
The MTA board must still vote to postpone the program, but the governor controls nominations for the 23-member board.
The MTA has not commented publicly on Hochul’s decision, which otherwise drew a wide range of reactions, according to a New York Times report. Many politicians welcomed the halt of an unpopular new fee, but environmental and economic groups expressed dismay, with a representative of one group, the Regional Plan Association, calling it “a total betrayal of New Yorkers and our climate.”
The Times also reports Hochul may look to make up for the loss of MTA funding with the use of money from state reserves in the short term and a new tax on city businesses in the long term. But a new tax would require legislative action, and the state legislature’s session ends this week.
The MTA has already spent more than $500 million on tolling equipment, which relies on E-ZPass transponders and billing by reading license plates. More on the planned tolling program is available here.
Bet Gov. Kathy received death threats. There are no “profiles in courage” in either party. I
I can’t wait to NARP/RPA’s take on this in tomorrow’s weekly “Hotline News”. Guarantee they will undoubtedly sugar-coat Gov. Kathy’s retreat.
Bet Gov. Kathy received death threats. There are no “profiles in courage” in either party.
Is the congestion fee constitutional? I have a real problem with a tax that can be imposed — and now withdrawn — by executive fiat. And IT IS A TAX – not a user fee like a train fare or a campground fee or a library fine or a highway toll, as it is paid be people not using the service to which the money goes.
According to today’s Wall Street Journal (Page A3), “…. estimated weekly average subway ridership this year is 66.5% of 2019 levels ….”.
And have we ever heard the ridership counts on the truncated Second Avenue Subway. Needed in working-class Harlem and East Bronx, it goes a few blocks in one of Manhattan’s wealthiest neighborhoods — at a cost of billions of dollars and sixty years to build.
Governor Kathy, you’ve got a big set of issues on your hands. The congestion fee wouldn’t have solved them.
When I was a college student in NYC in the 1960’s, the subway system was filthy and decrepit but I could get anywhere I wanted day or night for 15 cents. (Or 30 centes to the Rockaways but I never went there). Now all the money in America can’t make the system work.
“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.” (H.L. Mencken) There is an election coming up in November. Our fearless Governor here in New York knows it. (So does our fearless leader of the free world.)
That half a billion in tolling equipment could have instead been used on an actual transit project. Like for example extending the Second Avenue Subway another inch or two further north.
What the Regional Plan Association said is right on target. Governor Hochul is another spineless Democrat who talks the talk about the threats from climate change/global warming but when it comes time to walk the walk, they cave. Democratic Party leaders in NY and MA have no use for public transportation. Our pathetic Governor Maura Healey would shut down the MBTA and we don’t care how they get around in the BOS metro region if she could get federal funds for replacement of the aging Cape Cod bridges. At least that’s my opinion.
A half billion dollars on tolling equipment? How is it that it costs so much?
Whatever. Half a billion is tolling equipment down the toilet.
Sin taxes are so much fun. Want less auto cngestion (or less consumption of booze or ciggies), then tax it so there’s less of it. Then you collect less taxes.
Let’s face it folks. The states and the localities don’t have the money coming in for the needed transit projects. Neither do the feds but the feds can print (and do) money ad infinitum. If anyone has the answer, please post it on these pages.