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In Shocking Reversal, Gov Hochul Moves To Indefinitely Delay Congestion Pricing [1]
['Photo', 'N.Y. Governor S Office', 'Jack Ahern']
Date: 2024-06
Governor Kathy Hochul said that she directed the MTA to “indefinitely delay” Manhattan’s congestion pricing tolls on June 5, only weeks before they were set to go into effect at the end of the month.
In a video address announcing the decision, Hochul noted that the congestion pricing program “was enacted five years ago to achieve two essential goals: reduce traffic and emissions in NYC, and provide a much-needed funding stream for capital investments in public transit.”
However, Hochul claimed, “circumstances have changed. After careful consideration, I have come to the difficult decision that implementing the planned congestion pricing system risks too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers at this time.”
One possible scenario Hochul said she feared is that people would rather work remotely instead of driving into the toll zone–which would extend to all vehicles entering the zone south of 60th St.–which she claims would jeopardize the city’s post-pandemic recovery.
The governor added that “she remained committed to these investments in public transit,” a reference to the $1 billion that congestion pricing tolls were projected to raise. “We need to make the MTA service more accessible and reliable, without the projected revenue having to come just from congestion pricing.”
She cited backstop capital funding, and hinted at “other” sources of revenue. According to a report in Gothamist, the governor is considering proposing a tax hike on businesses to that end, which would have to pass the state legislature. The legislature’s current session ends tomorrow.
MTA Chairman Janno Leiber in an appearance on the Sunday morning talk show Up Close with Bill Ritter had said on May 12 that the MTA did not have a back up plan if it did not get the $1 billion in funding from the congestion pricing tolls. The infusion was going to be use to borrow up to $15 billion to fund long term repairs and modernization efforts for railroads and subways. “We don’t have a plan B,” Lieber told Ritter. “And as you pointed out, there’s a lot of money at stake.”
He had no comment after Hochul’s surprise announcement on June 5.
The head of NYC Transit Richard Davey recently announced he was resigning to take a better paying job heading Boston’s seaport and Logan Airport.
New Jersey politicians, who are currently backing an effort to outright end the tolling program via the courts, hailed Governor Hochul’s announcement.
“I want to thank Governor Hochul for pausing the implemenUptation for congestion pricing in Manhattan’s Central Business District,” NJ Governor Phil Murphy said in a statement, adding that he had maintained a “difference of opinion” with her on the issue in the past.
Congestion pricing’s implementers had been on the receiving end of other ongoing lawsuits with the Trucking Association of New York filing the latest large-scale one in late May. The Staten Island Borough President and the city’s United Federation of Teachers also took to the courts to fight the toll.
“As an organization that has gone to court to fight this plan, we applaud the Governor for making the right decision,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said.
City Council members whose districts fell within the congestion pricing zone, while generally supportive of the concept, in March sought to get a reduced fare for the approximately 500,000 Manhattan residents who lived within the congestion zone. Their bid fell on deaf ears at the MTA.
Interestingly, it was widely reported that U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries–who represents a chunk of Brooklyn and is the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives–influenced Hochul’s thinking on the delay. He reportedly believes that the tolling program will lose votes for Democratic candidates come November.
Manhattan politicians, who by and large supported the tolls, took a different tack.
“The congestion pricing program must be allowed to go forward; any further delays will only exacerbate the life-threatening pollution and congestion that New Yorkers face every day, as well as allow the deterioration of our subways to continue,” West Side State Assembly Member Tony Simone said.
Mark Levine, the Manhattan Borough President, bluntly reacted to the news in a social media post: “We have paralyzing levels of traffic in midtown and downtown—slowing emergency response times, harming our climate fight. We have desperate funding needs in our subways—stations in need of renovations, outdated signaling etc. How are we going to fix these things now??”
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[1] Url:
https://www.ourtownny.com/news-alert-section/in-shocking-reversal-gov-hochul-moves-to-indefinitely-delay-congestion-pricing-FX3415362
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