- New York City officials have proposed imposing a $15 toll on drivers entering Manhattan’s central business district.
- Vehicles entering Manhattan south of 60th Street during the day will be billed electronically.
- Meanwhile, the plan would impose a $24 fee on light trucks and $36 on large trucks.
Most drivers will pay $15 to enter Manhattan’s central business district under a plan announced Thursday by New York officials. The congestion pricing plan, which is being sued by neighboring New Jersey, would be the first such plan in the United States if approved by transportation officials early next year.
Under the plan, car drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street during the day would be charged a $15 electronic toll, while light trucks would be charged $24 and large trucks would be charged $36. That will happen.
Similar programs have been implemented in cities such as London and Stockholm, but New York City is poised to become the first in the United States.
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The toll revenue, expected to be about $1 billion a year, will be used to finance borrowed funds to upgrade the city’s mass transit system.
Proposals from the Transportation Mobility Review Board, the agency tasked with advising the New York State Department of Transportation on fares, include discounts for low-income drivers who travel between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. and frequent flyers. It is. Government vehicles such as municipal garbage trucks are exempt.
The sun rises behind the Empire State Building in New York City as fog passes over midtown Manhattan, as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey, August 21, 2022. (Gary Hershawn/Getty Images)
Taxi drivers will hand over a $1.25 surcharge to passengers entering congestion zones, while passengers on app-based ride-hailing services will be charged a $2.50 surcharge.
In addition to funding needed transportation improvements, officials say congestion pricing will improve air quality and reduce traffic.
“Without this, we will be suffocating our own transportation for a long time to come, and the MTA will not have the funding it needs to provide quality service,” Transportation Review Commissioners said. Karl Weisbrod, chairman of the association, said in the report. Please report to MTA staff.
Opponents include taxi drivers who had asked for full exemption.
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“Years of unregulated, unchecked competition from Uber and Lyft have already decimated the city’s taxi industry, and the MTA is struggling with stability and modest survival,” said New York City Executive Director Bhairavi Desai. “It looks like they are ready to deal the final blow to the outlook.” The City Taxi Workers Alliance said in a news release. “If implemented, this proposal would push thousands of driver families back into crisis levels of poverty with no relief in sight.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy criticized the Transportation Mobility Commission’s proposal after some news outlets reported on it Wednesday ahead of a formal announcement.
“The credit structure recommended by the Transportation Mobility Review Board is woefully inadequate, and the total lack of toll credits for the George Washington Bridge, in particular, will reduce toll shopping, increase congestion in underserved areas, and increase congestion in underserved areas. “This will lead to excessive tolling at New Jersey intersections into Manhattan,” Murphy said in a statement after filing a federal lawsuit over congestion pricing in July.
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The MTA Board of Directors is expected to vote on the plan after a series of public hearings scheduled for February 2024.
