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The future of congestion pricing is “now or never”
I’ve been meaning to get to this post on the future of congestion pricing and it looks like it’s now or never — especially for the plan itself. There’s every reason to believe that there’s no chance for the program once Trump takes office.
So, here goes: the MTA held a round table for local journalists in the Bronx last month (more later on my very fun bike ride home from the West Farms Bus Depot) and six of us small fries (well, I was the smallest) had a chance to ask questions of the MTA chair & CEO Janno Lieber, second from left, as well as Metro-North president Catherine Rinaldi, chief customer officer Shanifah Rieara, and NYC Transit president Demetrius Crichlow.
I had two questions cued up: the future of congestion pricing, which you will recall was cancelled by Gov. Hochul in the 11th hour; and if we could get a bus that runs up the Westside Highway from Chambers to 14th. Taking that first one here:
“This is a big issue,” said Lieber. “We spent half a billion dollars to put in all that infrastructure, including the complicated studies we did to get federal approval. That was supposed to be paid back, so now we are out that money.”
Yet Lieber said he remains hopeful and in fact all the above mentioned infrastructure — cameras, tolling software — is still in place, kind of frozen in amber. “The governor’s statement a few days ago suggested she is thinking about when and how,” he said on Oct. 25.
Though that was before Election Day. Now all the analysts are suggesting it’s *really* now or never, since Trump is likely to block it at the federal level. He tweeted back in August that he would “TERMINATE Congestion Pricing in my FIRST WEEK back in Office!!” (The caps and exclamation points are his.)
“Advocates for the plan that was set to generate billions of dollars for the MTA say the governor needs to act sooner than [the end of the year],” The City reported. “‘The worst-case scenario for congestion pricing has come true,’ Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA said Wednesday morning.”
Already a lot of capital plans the MTA had scheduled have been put off, including renovations for the drecky Chambers Street J/Z station.
“How do we now fill the hole?” Lieber said. “The governor was consistent that she would come up with the money. So we slowed down some projects and put them on the back burner to put forward the more safety-focused projects.”
The MTA needed the congestion pricing income to bond it into $15 billion of capital, funds needed especially after they skipped a fare increase in 2021 due to the pandemic. The MTA is planning a 4 percent increase in 2025.
“I remain hopeful but I have no assurances,” Lieber said. “Ambulances can’t get to hospitals. Plumbers and other tradesman are spending hours in traffic. We have horrible air quality issues at the tunnels. These are real issues.”
“And it’s not just us against them. It makes sense to create a system that doesn’t let people drive to New York for free.”
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“And it’s not just us against them. It makes sense to create a system that doesn’t let people drive to New York for free.”
do these people hear themselves? in the most expensive city in the country where people have already paid 20 dollars to cross the river, they want more of our money. tax and spend is failing us. NYC voted more republican than any election since 1988. what do they do? instead of introspection, its more of the same. you will continue to force people to move to cheaper and freer states. NY, SF, Chicago just dont get it, and likely never will.
You can start by enforcing paying fares, how much that that cost a year?
Yes, this indeed as well. Fare evasion is out of control.
The MTA is losing $7 million+ a year on fare evasion. “We have to think we are all playing by the same rules,” Lieber said. “Free rides result in more costs to everyone else.”
It’s $700 million, not $7 million.
https://pix11.com/news/morning/fare-evasion-cost-mta-700-million-in-2023-watchdog-group/#:~:text=Fare%20evasion%20cost%20the%20MTA,least%20%24100%20million%20last%20year.
My only position used to be that residents in the zone should be exempt. I have since changed my mind and believe congestion pricing should not be the solution to fare evasion and obvious mismanagement of money by the MTA. Throwing more money at the problem is not an answer.
Let’s give it a try at least!
But won’t the next president cancel it anyway? Or is there a way NY can put it in place to make it president-proof?
Once they bond it, it’ll be too difficult to cancel.
Yall are really show you guys genius. Obviously the people of NY are against this but you want to force it upon them anyways. Only going to push more native NY residents out. Soon all is going to be left is the migrants and city officials. Can they not take a hint
I say NO to congestion pricing. The working families can’t afford NYC. They can’t afford higher food prices. Adding congestion pricing will add more inflation to NYC residents.
Trump would not be able to cancel it. Hochul should step up to the plate and enact Congestion Pricing and any other Trump-proofing that several other governors have put in place. Show us your true feathers Gov.
At least it is now very clear what this is for: raising funds, and increasing tax on New Yorkers. Not managing congestion.
To get people back on public transport the key is to improve public transport. You can”t tax them and force the public onto something New Yorkers feel is not safe enough or clean enough.
The congestion charge that is being proposed looks like a Tax. In London quickly after peak hours the charge is waived – it’s a congestion charge not a tax. Pople are really encouraged to come into the city early evening to go to restaurants etc etc
In NY no such waving of the fee until very very late so you have to pay whenever you come in which will be very bad for local restaurants, businesses etc and bad for consumers who want to come in and enjoy the city. . Looks like money grab. No doubt New Yorkers will complain and then pay it
It can be *both* a way to reduce congestion and raise money. The program did both in London. The suggestions on peak hour charging etc. are worth considering, and those are the kinds of adjustments that should be evaluated. Those changes could be quickly adopted now, before trying out the program, or could be made once the program is in place, regularly working to optimize the program.
All of this is also consistent with demands that:
– The MTA should audit — and if deemed necessary, reform– its money management.
– Fare payment should be consistently enforced.
– Cleanliness and safety should be improved.
etc.
I actually think the fare is a good deal, especially if one is traveling far in the system. Other cities often have multi-zone systems, where it costs more to travel longer distances.
Consumers from outside NYC, who want to enjoy the city, will complain and then pay it, too. They just don’t want to take Metro north, the LIRR, or NJ transit into the city, all of which no one complains about being unsafe (effective? That’s another story. Looking at you, NJ Transit). Also, the only NYC tourists really using the subway are those who have flown in from overseas; everyone else ubers. In any case, Hochul’s gonna have to do it now that the MTA will need the increased revenue to offset price increases on materials for subway upkeep that’ll no doubt hit if/when tariffs are implemented (they might go down, a little, once foreign suppliers open US based fronts to which they can then self-import and thus undercut american suppliers with slightly lower prices)
Interesting analysis:
“At $2.90, the NYC Subway is too cheap”
https://fleker.medium.com/at-2-90-the-nyc-subway-is-too-cheap-4ea2178b903c
If CP is supposed to be revenue for the MTA, then the MTA needs vehicles to come to the CP zone.
Or is CP supposed to reduce vehicles so that bike lanes can be expanded?
BTW CP is only for MTA capital-subway.
CP will not increase bus service.
After the pointless pause, it looks like it will be on:
“New York to Revive Congestion Pricing With $9 Toll”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/13/nyregion/congestion-pricing-nine-dollars.html
This was never a “pointless pause”. There was a very specific goal and it was somewhat accomplished.
When Hochul decided to “pause” the tax several months ago it looked like Trump had a good chance of getting elected and it would be virtually impossible for the Democrats to hold the Senate with Joe Manchin retiring his West Virginia seat. The best hope to avoid a GOP “trifecta” in Washington was for Dems to win a majority of the House of Representatives, which was clearly going to be controlled by just a handful of seats.
The congestion tax is deeply unpopular upstate where several Republican congressmen were defending seats narrowly won in 2022. Democratic House Leader Jefferies asked Hochul to delay the tax until after November 5th in order to improve the odds of winning. This worked; three such districts did flip back to the Democrats (by very narrow margins).
Now that November 5th is behind us, Hochul will reinstate the congestion tax (which was clearly the plan all along if you were paying attention). She’ll start the charges at $9 instead of $15 so this will look less like a charade and more like she “studied” the issue. But the smart money will be betting that there’s a plan in the drawer somewhere in Albany to push the tax up to $15 pretty quickly.
The “pause” achieved its goal of flipping some NY congressional districts in a very narrowly balanced House of Representatives. However, at this time it looks like it fell short of being sufficient to put the Democrats in the majority.
Regardless of your position on the congestion tax, this was a pretty cynical, disingenuous and two-faced political ploy that has managed to upset almost everyone on both sides of the issue. Well done, Governor.
Well said.
You might want to check your analysis. One of the seats that flipped R to D is centered in Syracuse, where no one cares or even knows about congestion pricing. Another stretches across 11 counties including all of Broome, Tioga, Tompkins, Chenango, Delaware, Greene, Sullivan and Columbia counties, plus parts of Ulster and Otsego counties, where very few care. You might have a case in the third district, southern Nassau County, but of the two dozen voters whom I queried about CP during my two days canvassing for the Dem candidate, only one even knew what it was, and he said he favored it.
It’s also possible that Hochul’s “pause” kept the issue in play more than if she had turned on the tolls on June 30. A lot of voters might have grumbled and then moved on. And CP wasn’t a congressional issue anyway.
Yeah, I know politics isn’t as clearly demarcated as I’m implying. But the logic behind the pause was flimsy from the git-go. A lot of people want leadership, not pandering — a point you seem to acknowledge at the end of your comment.
New York City and State desperately need an Office of Government Efficiency to slash the budget. NY state has a budget of almost double what Florida spends, even though Florida has 2 million more residents and is growing while NY state is shrinking.