NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board on Wednesday acceded to the request of Gov. Kathy Hochul and voted to indefinitely halt the planned congestion pricing toll program for lower Manhattan, and to put $16.5 billion in transit projects on hold as a result.
The move came a day after New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli issued a report saying the agency would likely need to make $17 billion in cuts, figuring in federal funds it would lose by halting work to extend the Second Avenue Subway project.
Streetsblog NY reports that the projects deferred include:
— $5 billion for the Second Avenue Subway project.
— $3 billion for upgrades of subway signaling systems.
— $2 billion for station accessibility work that the agency had agreed to as part of a settlement of a lawsuit over compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
— $1.5 billion for new subway and commuter rail rolling stock.
— $500 million for electric buses.
Even in voting to agree to halt congestion pricing, board members painted a dire picture of the consequences. Streetsblog quoted board member David Jones as saying he was concerned about “the threat to the viability of the system, particularly for the third of New Yorkers who are at or near poverty,” and said another board member, Norman Brown, called the situation “catastrophic.” The New York Times reports board member Midori Valdivia called the presentation on the project cuts “dire,” saying, “No board member, I think, wants to sit here talking about what projects we’re going to cut a couple years after we approved all thse projects.”
The Times also reports a record 141 people signed up to speak at Wednesday’s board meeting, many criticizing Hochul for her surprise decision to pause the program earlier this month [see “New York governor haults Manhattan congestion pricing …,” Trains News Wire, June 5, 2024]. Some urged the board to go ahead with the program despite Hochul’s decision, but the MTA has said it cannot do so without state approval [see “Head of MTA says without congestion pricing …,” News Wire, June 11, 2024].
The congestion pricing program would have raised $15 billion for the MTA through tolls on vehicles entering lower Manhattan, and was depicted as both a way to fund much-needed improvements for the transit agency and to address traffic problems. The highly controversial program faced a series of lawsuits before Hochul’s announcement that she wanted to pause the program because of its potential impact on post-pandemic recovery.
Hochul depicted the funding problem as a temporary issue in a Wednesday statement that said she would work with the state legislature to “implement comprehensive solutions and ensure appropriate funding sources in next year’s budget.
“While the timing of the next budget may necessitate temporary adjustments to the timeline of certain contracts,” the statement reads, “there is no reason for New Yorkers to be concerned that any planned projects will not be delivered.”
Gee, what a surprise. I had no idea our fearless and beloved Governor would make a political calculation. I had no idea the MTA apparachiks (sp.?) would go along. I had no idea the end of the world, transit-wise, was so imminent.
Oh, where even to begin.
(1) If MTA’s capital budget was dependent on a dodgy sin tax they were in deep hopeless trouble to begin with. New York City/ State want fewer people driving in mid/ lower Manhattan but want more people driving there so as to collect more taxes.
(2) Totally unconstitutional. An administrative body CANNOT levy a tax. Only a user fee. This IS NOT a user fee as it’s a tax on NON-USERS of the transit system.
(3) I’m pro-transit but we need to figure out how to pay for it. A nation that has no clue how to pay for pensions, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will have even less idea how to pay for the Second Avenue Subway at a cost of billions for each one or two added stops.
(4) Disabled access to existing subways would be lovely. Count the subway stations in this world (New York, London, Boston, Chicago) that have no disabled access, tell me how to pick which ones are to get the needed rebuild.
Congestion Pricing was approved by the State Legislature in Albany, and toll money in NYS has long been spent on other things, from parks to canals.