Even locals who don’t drive can’t escape it, since they have to pay the MTA’s new $15 congestion charge to get into Midtown.
The Brooklyn-based air conditioning and ventilation services company has already warned customers in Manhattan below 60th Street that starting June 30, it will be slapping a $15 surcharge on all work orders to cover the tolls that go into effect that day.
“Attention: Beginning June 30th, calls to New York City below 60th Street will incur an additional $15 New York City Congestion Charge,” reads a bill sent by Mechanical East, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning installation and cleaning company, to a Manhattan customer after their air conditioning unit was cleaned.
“This announcement to my customers needs no explanation,” Daniel Frankrich, vice president of Mechanical East, told The Post.
Opponents of the tolls have warned for months that they would force businesses to pass on the costs to customers when delivering goods and providing services.
Motorists are charged a toll of $15. Large trucks are charged a toll ranging from $24 to $36 per trip depending on their size.
“Don’t loosen your purse strings. Everything will become more expensive in New York, especially in the congestion pricing zone,” said Joshua Bienstock, spokesman for NYC Congestion Charge Exemption, which obtained a copy of Mechanical East’s bill from a customer.
Bienstock said companies could exploit the tolls.
They pay a toll when they enter Midtown, but once they get there they may do multiple jobs that day and still end up charging the same fee to numerous customers.
“Service and delivery businesses are discovering that they can impose a congestion charge on every stop below 60th Street, which is something that any thoughtful person could have predicted,” Bienstock told The Post.
“But the MTA is different. All they care about is squeezing more money out of hardworking New Yorkers. They couldn’t care less about the inflationary nature of their taxes,” the spokesperson said.
The congestion charge is a state law designed to reduce congestion and pollution in Midtown while generating revenue to boost public transportation.
The legislation was pushed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Democratic-controlled Legislature in 2019 and is also supported by current Gov. Kathy Hauckle.
“It’s hard to blame the delivery and service companies for finding this new way to make money thanks to Governor Hookl and the idiots at the MTA,” Bienstock said.
“How will customers know how many stops a delivery or service vehicle will make in their zone? [Businesses] “The ones who will benefit from this fiasco are Uber and Lyft, while the public is left to foot the bill as usual. This is Governor Hockle’s New York.”
Katherine Freed, who lives in an apartment complex along Manhattan’s FDR Drive and is a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to block the tolls, said apartment residents, including those on fixed incomes who live in public housing, would especially feel the burden of the tolls.
“There’s no rail freight in Manhattan,” Freed said. “They didn’t consider the economic impact of congestion.”
Frank Arroyo, owner of Frank’s Bike Shop on Grand Street, said he already pays $90 to $105 for bike delivery services, and the congestion fee would just add to that.
“Shipping costs will go up. All the bikes are stored in warehouses outside the area,” said Arroyo, 79, who has worked in the industry for 48 years.
He said the congestion will discourage longtime customers who have moved elsewhere from returning to the store.
Tom Grech, president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, said such problems aren’t surprising.
“You can’t provide that service through buses or subways,” Grech said.
The MTA said the new tolls would generate $1 billion a year to pay for new subway cars, signal overhauls, a new extension of the Second Avenue subway into East Harlem and other major projects, while easing congestion in Midtown.
The MTA argued Sunday that congestion pricing would save money.
“The New York City Partnership estimates that traffic congestion costs businesses billions of dollars each year because it lengthens commutes and delays the delivery of goods and services in the central business district. It’s up to businesses to pass on the savings from reduced congestion to their customers,” said John McCarthy, the MTA’s director of policy and external relations.
Tolls during off-peak hours will be significantly reduced to $3.75 for passenger vehicles.
Critics argue that imposing tolls will only divert traffic and pollution elsewhere, rip into the wallets of drivers and businesses, and hand their money over to a notorious agency with a record of massive overspending on capital projects compared with other large transit systems around the world, while fare nonpayment is rampant.
Recent polls show that New York voters, overall, are overwhelmingly opposed to new congestion pricing.
The legal challenges to the tolls have been brought by Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella and the United Teachers Union, lower Manhattan residents and small businesses like Fried, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and truck drivers.
Barring court intervention, the MTA plans to start collecting tolls on June 30.
Haukl’s office did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment.
