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Debate over NYC congestion pricing picks up as more effects of the plan emerge
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Stephen Nessen
Published Aug 10, 2022
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By
Stephen Nessen
Published Aug 10, 2022
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A plan to charge drivers who enter Manhattan south of 60th Street as much as $23 yielded mixed reactions on Wednesday as new side effects of the landmark congestion pricing proposal were revealed.
“It's not good. You see already we have so many taxes, and inflation after the Covid, and the war (in Ukraine) is going on. It's too much,” truck driver Paris Nichel said in lower Manhattan.
Under the plan, truck drivers like Nichel could pay as much as $81 to enter the toll zone below 60th Street.
Many New Yorkers were more ambivalent about the MTA’s first-in-the-nation tolls to fund improvements to mass transit.
Jeffrey Degraft, 32, a driver for Uber and Lyft, said the tolls are necessary.
“I think it makes a lot of sense because there are a lot of cars and a lot of traffic, but at the same time I don't think it should come at a cost (to) Uber drivers,” he said.
As part of the MTA’s proposal, taxis would be charged the same rates as a private vehicle. But the agency is planning to help drivers who want to become MTA bus drivers or convert to Access-A-Ride drivers.
Uber and Lyft driver Jeffrey Degraft, 32, from the Bronx, supported congestion pricing but said ride-share drivers should not pay excessive fees.
Stephen Nessen
But Bhairavi Desai, founder of the Taxi Workers Alliance, said the MTA’s offer to help taxi drivers was a “a not-so-subtle admission that drivers would lose jobs.”
“Drivers don't need gimmicky jobs programs from the MTA,” she wrote in a statement.
“If you're lucky enough to even get passengers, you'd collect more in taxes to turn over to the state than to keep as income for yourself. How is that fair?”
Meanwhile, the MTA’s full environmental assessment for the program, which covers hundreds of pages, revealed additional impacts.
Traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway, for example, would increase dramatically due to congestion pricing in Manhattan.
The MTA analysis found that the Cross Bronx Expressway at Macombs Road could see a daily average increase of as many as 4,000 additional personal vehicles and 704 additional trucks.
“I am a supporter of congestion pricing in principle. That being said, any plan that threatens to intensify diesel truck traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway would raise serious concerns about public health and racial equity,” Rep. Ritchie Torres wrote in a statement. “My office and I are carefully reviewing the MTA’s proposal for the environmental impact it would have on the South Bronx.”
Lower Manhattan resident Merri Milwe, 67, supported congestion pricing but lamented the inevitable fight over the tolls.
Stephen Nessen
Lower Manhattan resident Merri Milwe, 67, supported the goals of the program, but worried that the charges are too high. The MTA assessment examined a range of toll fees for drivers of private vehicles during peak hours, from $9 to $23.
“I don’t like congestion because of the pollution it creates and my concern about global warming,” Milwe said. “I’d like to see them make money some other way, because that just seems like it’s going to get people really angry, and we don’t really need much more of that, do we?”
Under many scenarios being considered by the MTA, drivers who cross a bridge or tunnel connected to Manhattan may receive a credit toward the toll.
State Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz called the idea of giving credits to drivers arriving from New Jersey “mind-boggling.”
“That is like the most backwards, inefficient, and unfair thing that I can think of that they would possibly do,” he said.
Others, like Manhattan Institute transit policy expert Nicole Gelinas, believe the MTA is missing a key opportunity to decrease traffic beyond the estimated 20%. While the agency said it might charge more on “gridlock alert” days, Gelinas believes it should use dynamic pricing more frequently.
“When it's 95 degrees, double the price to improve the air quality,” she wrote to Gothamist.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul emphasized that the MTA is seeking public input. Congestion pricing, she said, is meant to be a "thoughtful approach" to bolstering public transit in New York City and reducing emissions.
"We want people to be back on public transportation, but also we just have to make sure that we have funding for the MTA,” Hochul said Wednesday.
Hochul's Republican opponent, Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, has called for ending congestion pricing before it starts, arguing that New Yorkers can't afford another fee.
“Congestion pricing is a horrible idea that will create new economic pain for hardworking New Yorkers,” Zeldin wrote in a statement. “Now, politicians and bureaucrats want to jam up New Yorkers with a whole new scheme to rip more money out of New Yorkers’ wallets, grabbing another $1 billion out of the pockets of New Yorkers who can’t afford it.”
But Hochul said it's necessary to ensure the MTA is well-funded.
"This is a major funding source and my political opponent would rather raise taxes on New Yorkers to pay for this, or shut down the subway," she said. "I'm not sure what his alternatives are, but we're trying to have a very thoughtful approach."
With reporting by Jon Campbell
Tagged
MTA
congestion pricing
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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