NYC Congestion Pricing Plan With $9 Toll to Start in January
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It will cost $9 for most motorists driving into large parts of Manhattan starting in January under a revised tolling plan that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is seeking to push through before President-elect Donald Trump, who opposes the new fee, takes office.
The governor has limited time to implement the new charge and avoid the incoming administration halting the program, as Trump did during his first term. Hochul abruptly paused the prior version of congestion pricing with a $15 charge just before it was set to begin in June, citing the financial pressures of working families.
The $9 toll would bring in revenue that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the city’s transit network, would borrow against to modernize a more than 100-year-old system. Even though Hochul will reduce the pricing structure by 40%, it will still provide the $15 billion originally planned to upgrade MTA’s infrastructure, Hochul said Nov. 14 during a press conference announcing the new plan.
“We have found a path to fund the MTA, reduce congestion and keep millions of dollars in the pockets of our commuters,” Hochul said.
Hochul
Pausing congestion pricing opened up a $15 billion deficit in the MTA’s current capital plan and deferred signal upgrades, subway renovations, accessibility projects and purchasing 250 electric buses. The MTA’s next five-year $65.4 billion capital budget is also at risk as nearly half of it is unfunded. The transit provider is seeking to rehabilitate aging structures after years of neglect and improve service to attract more riders to its system of subways, buses and commuter rail lines.
To begin the program, Hochul needs the federal government to approve the revised tolling structure and to also sign a value pricing pilot program agreement with New York. It’s doubtful the incoming administration would make those authorizations after Trump said he would terminate congestion pricing in his first week back in the White House.
Murphy
Even if Hochul gets federal approval, congestion pricing faces several lawsuits, including from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who says the environmental review of the tolling program was insufficient and doesn’t show the potential impacts to some Garden State neighborhoods. A lower fee fails to make up for the failures of that review, lawyers for Murphy wrote in a letter dated Nov. 13 and filed to the court.
“Merely lowering the toll amount would not cure the defects in the National Environmental Policy Act review process conducted by the defendants when the Federal Highway Administration issued its Finding of No Significant Impact,” the lawyers wrote in the letter, which urges the court to make a ruling in the case.
Murphy said in a statement Nov. 14 that he is “firmly opposed” to any attempt to force congestion pricing through before Trump takes office and urged Hochul to reconsider her proposal.
If implemented, the toll would apply to motorists entering Manhattan’s central business district, which runs from 60th Street to the southern end of the island. New York City is the world’s most-congested urban area, according to INRIX Inc., a traffic-data analysis firm.
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The goal of congestion pricing is to reduce the number of the vehicles in the district by 17% and improve air quality. It may be difficult to hit those targets with a lower $9 toll because it may fail to persuade commuters and visitors to use public transportation rather than cars to get into Manhattan.
The tolling program could still face risks even after Trump takes office. Brad Lander, New York City’s comptroller — who supports congestion pricing and has been pushing Hochul to restart it — warned that the incoming administration could try to end the program through litigation or administrative action.
“Theoretically in the same way that New Jersey sued, the federal government could turn around and sue to say it was done improperly,” Lander said Nov. 13, speaking about the environmental review process.
