A series of six public hearings on its plan to put new tolls in place on vehicles traveling below 60th Street in Manhattan saw participation by hundreds of advocates and opponents. The hearings were held virtually and concluded Aug. 31. The MTA has estimated that congestion pricing could reduce the number of vehicles on Manhattan’s streets by up to 20%.
The MTA presented seven different scenarios for tolls which would be imposed, ranging from passenger cars being charged a low of $5 to enter Midtown Manhattan overnight and $9 during peak periods to $12 overnight and $29 during peak periods. The highest proposed toll was $82 for large trucks during peak periods. Passenger cars, motorcycles and commercial vans would be charged only once per day under all of the various permutations that are proposed by the MTA, while taxis, trucks and buses could have to pay the toll multiple times each day under various scenarios. The MTA proposed that in some instances credits would be given for bridge and tunnel tolls that motorists paid while en route to Manhattan.
Tolls would not be collected from vehicles on the West Side Highway or East River Drive, but would be charged as soon as a vehicle gets off of the highways. Structures would be built spanning various local avenues and streets that would have antennas, cameras and associated equipment. Toll collection would be through the use of E-ZPass technology or by photographing license plates and billing by mail.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day testified at a hearing, “Like almost all of the members of the Metropolitan Transportation Commuter District, Rockland County has no one-seat rail ride to the central business district and severely limited mass transit alternatives. This transit desert forces more than 60% of our residents to drive into the city because they have no other way to get there and that commute is not cheap.”
Day called for Rockland residents to be exempt from additional tolls that congestion pricing would impose. He pointed out that Rockland residents pay heavy tolls on the George Washington Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel and Tappan Zee Bridge while being subjected to a $40 million annual value gap between what the county residents pay to the MTA and what the county gets in return.
“Now you want these commuters to give even more while all the East River bridges remain toll-free despite the significant transit options to get into the city from those communities,” Day said. “Connecticut commuters, yes an entirely different state, do not pay one red cent and unbelievably receive better service from the MTA than our overpaying MTA-member Rockland County.”
State Sen. Elijah Reichlin-Melnick, who represents the 38th Senate District that includes the towns of Clarkstown, Orangetown, and Ramapo in Rockland, said, “How can proponents of this plan possibly justify forcing Rockland residents to pay the same congestion pricing tax as people who live east of the Hudson where there are vastly better public transit options into Manhattan? Westchester County has 43 train stations, Rockland has five.”
Reichlin-Melnick said he and state Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski are preparing legislation that would exempt Rockland along with Orange County from congestion pricing.
“The complete disregard for the needs of people who live west of the Hudson is evident at every step of this plan,” Reichlin-Melnick said. “Those who pay the biggest burden won’t even get a seat at the table.” .
Rocco Lacertosa, CEO of the New York State Energy Coalition, expressed concerns about the toll structure being proposed for trucks, saying increased costs would be passed to consumers.
“My members make multiple trips in and out of Manhattan all day long everyday of the year and it goes up exponentially in the wintertime during the heating season during October through April,” Lacertosa said. He explained that many of the truck trips by his organization’s members involve emergency service calls for heating equipment at health care facilities and municipal buildings.
Tony Malone, a resident of Brooklyn, was typical of New York City residents speaking in support of congestion pricing.
“I’m very disappointed to hear some elected officials speaking in opposition to this program,” Malone said. “It’s clear that our city is in a traffic crisis. It’s clear that our world is in a climate crisis. Maintaining the status quo is not an option. I want congestion pricing because I want a city where my kids can safely bike two miles to their school, where our streets ”¦ are not choked with cars everyday.”
