Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Congestion Pricing Revival It got the green light from the MTA on Monday — clearing the way for a $15 toll on Manhattan drivers by 2031.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board approved the Governor’s phased-in congestion pricing plan in a vote of 12 to 1.
The returns of congestion pricing are “huge for the MTA,” said agency Chairman Janno Lieber. He argued that a program that would reduce traffic in Manhattan would benefit motorists, transit riders, and businesses.
“This is a hopeful moment for drivers as well as transit riders and everybody because if you have to go to New York, if you choose to go to New York, life can be a lot better if you’re not spending and It should also happen. Spent a lot of time in crowds,” he said. “If you can save 10, 20 or even 30 minutes your time is money.”
The procedural vote passed without much fanfare, compared with the public outcry for and against the long-awaited plan to impose a toll on cars entering below 60th Street in Manhattan, now set to take effect Jan. 5. Is.
Hochul last week Announced that she would lift the “pause” The program – enacted just days before tolling began in the summer – was implemented with a $9 toll instead of the original $15.
But Hochul’s sales pitch largely obscured the fact that the lower toll would gradually increase to the $15 that was approved by the MTA last year.
The phase-in proposed by Hochul — and confirmed Monday by board members — calls for increasing tolls to $12 in 2028 and the full $15 in 2031.
Many opponents have framed congestion pricing as a tax on hard-working commuters and driving New Yorkers.
Lieber said 143,000 people drive through the congested toll zone every day, while transit ridership numbers 6.5 million.
He argued that tolls would help improve subways and commuter trains, and possibly attract drivers who would reconsider taking rail.
“Don’t believe the hype when people try to pretend it’s some kind of dystopian hellscape,” he said. “The New York mass transit system is much safer than many other places in the states where people rail about congestion pricing and New York. Take a look at the crime rates in their major cities.
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