Bipartisan bill aimed at outlawing America’s first controversial $15 ‘traffic congestion’ toll Entry into Manhattan’s business district south of 60th Street was proposed Wednesday by New York State Rep. Nicole Malliotakis and New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer.
“The MTA’s congestion pricing plan will extort even more money from commuters, shift traffic from Manhattan to suburban boroughs, and increase pollution in my district, especially in minority communities,” said Malliotakis, a Republican who represents Staten Island. It’s nothing more than a way to make money.” said the southern Brooklynite.
“The MTA’s car war is bankrupting commuters, and we will continue to use every legal and legislative tool available to stop it,” she said.
Gottheimer, a Democrat, represents a district in northern New Jersey that borders the George Washington Bridge.
“The MTA’s poorly managed congestion tax is nothing more than a shameless money grab that creates more traffic congestion, pollution, and economic pain for families in Jersey and New York. That’s why we’re introducing legislation at the federal level to stop it,” Gottheimer said.
Mr. Gottheimer held a separate press conference outside MTA headquarters downtown to break down how the transit agency came to its estimate that Midtown’s new $15 fare would generate $1 billion in revenue. demanded. He claims he can raise three times that amount.
He complained that the MTA ignored his requests for legal information.
Gottheimer, along with his New York Republican colleagues, sent a bipartisan letter to the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee requesting a formal subpoena for the information sought in the legal request and for MTA leaders to testify on the congestion charge. He said he would request that a public hearing be held if possible. .
In response, a senior MTA official — Long Island Railroad President Rob Freeh — mocked Mr. Gottheimer when asked about the Garden State lawmaker’s criticism.
“Gottheimer, Goodheimer, I don’t know his name,” Free said at an unrelated news conference celebrating the LIRR’s 190th anniversary.
“I think you saw on the video that he was being driven here with a chauffeur. Why did he use public transportation, New Jersey Transit, to get across the river and not use the MTA system? I’m trying to understand what’s going on,” Freeh said of Gottheimer, drawing laughs from transportation advocates.
However, the public is overwhelmingly opposed to congestion pricing.
A Siena College poll released Monday found that nearly two-thirds of voters in New York City and the Empire State oppose new tolls in Manhattan, across all demographics of residents.
Congestion pricing is a state law supported by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Democratic-controlled Legislature in 2019, but only 34% of Democrats support it.
Cuomo’s successor, Gov. Cathy Hochul, has argued that congestion pricing is good for slowing traffic, improving the environment and funding mass transit amid a flurry of lawsuits to block congestion pricing. I have defended it.
Tolls may be collected starting in June.
