After years of public engagement, foot-dragging by federal officials, and multiple obstruction lawsuits, New York’s congestion pricing plan is ready to go into effect. By the end of the month, the sensors and cameras will be ready to charge most drivers a $15 toll to enter midtown Manhattan and below, money earmarked for New York’s public transit system.
Today, Governor Kathy Hochul canceled that plan.
Congestion pricing, passed by the New York State Legislature in 2019, “was enacted in pre-pandemic times when employees were in the office five days a week, crime rates were at record lows, and tourism was at record highs,” Hochul said. video We announce the sudden death of our policy. Now that everything is worse in the city, “the planned congestion pricing system now risks having too many unintended consequences,” she said.
Technically, Hochul is suspending congestion pricing indefinitely. Supporters of this policy worry that if it can’t be implemented now, it won’t be implemented in the future.
“It’s very upsetting that this has come out of nowhere. If we stop charging congestion now, we’ll never get this.” said Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) ~ new york times. Urbanists and transit advocates were similarly outraged, calling Hocheol’s decision a “betrayal.”
Congestion pricing, which uses tolls to manage traffic congestion throughout the day, is a fundamentally good idea. Cities around the world have been using them to keep traffic flowing in their central business districts. Some areas of the United States have congested priced lanes where drivers pay dynamic tolls to move into the free lane.
New York’s planned congestion pricing system falls short of the best-designed congestion pricing program. By charging a flat fee, the effect of actually reducing congestion would have been limited.
The program was primarily sold as a bailout of New York’s subway system, which helped alienate drivers who had to pay tolls.
“They didn’t start out by saying, ‘We’re going to benefit you as drivers by stabilizing traffic flow,’” said Marc Scribner, a transportation policy researcher at the Reason Foundation (which publishes this website). reason “The knee-jerk reaction from many drivers is that this is a cash grab.”
Politicians from commuting communities across New York lined up to oppose this policy. The state of New Jersey has filed a lawsuit to stop it, as has its teachers union.
Until yesterday, it seemed like these opponents would not be able to derail congestion pricing. Now Hochul has done the wet work for them.
Now the cash grab has been lost. New York’s transportation problems will remain.
