The push for congestion pricing has failed to garner public support because smart New Yorkers know it’s a money-making scam that won’t reduce traffic congestion, said Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella.
“Congestion pricing is just bad policy. It’s a money grab,” a politician in the city’s most car-dependent borough, whose drivers are hit hardest by the toll, said Sunday.
“Unfortunately, there are a small number of people in this city and state who have an anti-motorist mentality.” Fossella says: IInterview on the radio show “The Cats Roundtable” on 770 WABC.
“For the last 15 years, every decision has been, ‘How do we make driving as painful as possible?’ We add more bike lanes, [traffic] “We’ve added more lanes. We’ve added more traffic lights, even though they may not be necessary,” he said.
Additionally, restaurant outlets also contribute to traffic congestion, the Beep reported.
“We know they serve a purpose but sometimes they’re in the middle of the road. All this combines to raise the question: ‘Why is there so much congestion?’ A lot of it is government imposed,” the politician said.
“Congestion pricing is one of those cases where a small minority is trying to impose their views on the majority… we have no choice but to stand up and fight,” Fossella said.
Following fierce opposition, Gov. Kathy Hawkle put the brakes on a proposed first-in-the-nation $15 “congestion” toll for access to Manhattan’s midtown business district below 60th Street.
Fossella, a former Republican congressman, joined the United Teachers Union in filing a federal lawsuit in January to block the new tolls.
He expressed concern about a Washington Post report last week that the city is reconsidering implementing congestion pricing — albeit at a lower rate and with exemptions for many city employees — before implementing it soon after next November’s election.
In a subsequent interview with Politico, Hawkle said: Toll cuts are being considered.
“Rumor has it that [the toll] “It could rear its ugly head again after the election. Hopefully that won’t happen,” Fossella told radio host John Catsimatidis.
“We hope they understand that it’s only going to harm people. … Probably over 60 percent of New Yorkers don’t support it,” the pollster said. “We hope it remains a dead bill. But we’re prepared to sue, to move forward, and to do whatever we can to stop congestion pricing.”
Staten Island has city ferries and several express bus routes to and from Manhattan, but no direct subway lines connecting it to the other boroughs.
The borough’s only rail line, the Staten Island Rapid Transit, does not serve all neighborhoods.
Fossella said he doesn’t want his constituents to leave the borough because they are paying multiple tolls.
They already have to pay a toll to enter Brooklyn over the MTA’s Verrazzano Bridge, and also to enter New Jersey at the Port Authority of New Jersey crossing.
But Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said the money from the proposed new tolls should go toward the transportation giant’s capital needs to upgrade and expand access and keep infrastructure in good condition. He said most people in New York still get around by train or bus.
The MTA Board is scheduled to adopt the agency’s 2025-2029 capital plan on Sept. 25, which officials have said could cost as much as $50 billion.
Haukl has pledged to find the money to pay for $15 billion in outstanding projects from the MTA’s current capital plan to make up for the loss of $1 billion that would have come from canceled congestion fee revenue.
Meanwhile, the debate over tolls is intensifying. Two lawsuits filed last month in state Supreme Court in Manhattan argue that Hockle lacked the authority to block congestion pricing that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Democratic-led state Legislature approved in 2019.
