Congestion pricing—the transformative strategy that would inject massive new funds into the nation’s largest transit system, untangle congestion in Manhattan’s traffic-plagued central business district, and slice car and truck air pollution emissions—has hit an eleventh hour roadblock.
Governor Kathy Hochul has directed New York City’s regional public transit agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), “to indefinitely pause the program,” which had been scheduled to go into effect beginning June 30.
The governor’s surprising and shattering announcement has created a fiscal earthquake that leaves a gaping hole in the MTA’s capital budget and jeopardizes the system’s ability to deliver safe and reliable transit service to millions of daily transit riders.
The congestion pricing program would charge auto drivers entering Manhattan at or below 60th Street a $15 toll during peak periods and $3.75 during overnight hours. Trucks would pay $24 to $36 during peak periods and $6 to $9 overnight. The program would also offer reduced rates to vehicles entering the district from one of four already tolled tunnels and a discount plan for qualifying low-income drivers.
Congestion pricing in one form or another has been part of NYC’s transit and clean air policy discussions since the 1970s. And similar programs have been operating successfully in London, Singapore, and Stockholm for years.
The MTA projected that the New York tolling program would generate about $1 billion a year, which would be used to secure $15 billion in much-needed capital improvements to the region’s subway, bus, and commuter rail network. According to the transit agency, congestion pricing would also cut an estimated 100,000 vehicles from entering the zone every day. This would speed the movement of emergency vehicles and those who must drive in what is now one of the most congested business districts in the country, where speeds have slowed to historic levels in recent years. Motor vehicle emissions would also be reduced—directly from smoother-moving traffic and indirectly as improved subway, bus, and rail service keeps transit ridership growing.
Among the many critical MTA capital projects that will now be caught in limbo are: the Second Avenue subway extension; signal system and subway station upgrades; new elevators and escalators to increase accessibility; security and safety improvements; new electric buses; and hundreds of millions of dollars of enhancements to the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad.
At the top of the list of those likely to be harmed by the delay are the city’s low-income commuters. The Community Service Society, the distinguished anti-poverty nonprofit, analyzed the impact of congestion pricing on low-income New Yorkers. It found that only 2 percent of outer-borough residents with incomes below the federal poverty line regularly commuted into the central business district and that most of these workers relied instead on public transportation and would be well served by congestion pricing.
