By Gus Saltonstall
In an unexpected move on Wednesday morning, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced she was indefinitely delaying the implementation of congestion pricing in New York City.
The governor’s announcement comes a few weeks before the tolling system was set to kick into effect on June 30.
Hochul said congestion pricing “risked too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers at this time,” and that the city was still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The governor released a video to explain her decision, which she centered around affordability.
We’re addressing affordability and the cost of living in New York.
Watch: https://t.co/rdFzgTf72D pic.twitter.com/cDv3lLHdaN
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) June 5, 2024
Under the plan, passenger cars would have had to pay a $15 toll to enter the city below 60th Street, with larger vehicles having to pay more. The plan was expected to generate around $1 billion a year to help subsidize the city’s subway and bus systems.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) board voted in March to give final approval for congestion pricing, and the agency has already spent millions of dollars to install the cameras and sensors, including on the Upper West Side, needed to implement the plan.
Hochul had been a vocal supporter of the plan over the past couple of years.
“I’m in shock,” Andrew Albert, a member of the MTA board and an Upper West Sider, told AP News. ”We won’t get new buses, new subway cars, new signals. It’s a betrayal of the millions and millions of people who would have been helped by this.”
From an Upper West Side perspective, West Side Rag was ready to examine how the tolling system might affect the neighborhood with the cutoff point being on 60th Street. We will continue to keep an eye out for any updates.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here.
Huge loss for the neighborhood. More pollution, more noise, more congestion, less funding for public transportation.
There are far more efficient ways to fund the MTA’s capital needs. Think about it, The city’s large enterprises benefit most from the mass transit systems so add a .1% tax to the $1T they generate annually and the MTA will have the $1B it needs to modernize. A simple accounting entry. Save the tens of millions it will cost to setup and maintain the indirect car-tax scheme that impacts most those who can least afford it. And any capital funding for the MTA should require that a credible plan is in place for making the system the fastest and most predictable way to get around the city so it can show a path to self-sufficiency through increased ridership. When it achieves that the $1B annually can then be re-directed to other modern mobility solutions that make life in the city what it should be.
Congestion pricing isn’t just about funding the MTA, it’s about reducing congestion. Reduced congestion means faster, more predictable commutes, less wasted time, less pollution, less honking, cleaner air, fewer accidents, faster drives to the hospital, faster response times for fire trucks and ambulances, and just overall improved quality of life. Nobody likes being stuck in traffic! Raising taxes will not provide any of those other benefits.
That’s a terrific vision for the city. But unfortunately it didn’t happen for London. After implementation, their scheme saved 40 seconds per mile — a decrease of 30% and within two more years just 8%. A car toll is still a tax. It’s not solving the problem and its using a $113M operating budget (RPA Report) to collect that tax. To achieve the vision you describe, and we all embrace, the city needs to laser focus on building a best-in-class subway and bus system that people of means will prefer over driving — not a plan that enables them to save a few minutes in their ICE vehicles and charges residents to visit friends without MTA access in other boroughs. An MTA tax on businesses already exists (0.34% on payroll expenses over $437,500 in a calendar quarter). Just raise it. But this time require the right objectives for use of proceeds and that includes bicycle infrastructure and other non polluting personal mobility devices that emerge.
A 30% reduction in commute times is huge! My wife takes the bus across town to the hospital for work, about 30 minutes each way (on a good day). A 30% reduction is an extra hour and half we get to spend with her every week! We can have that time together starting in 30 days.
We absolutely need to improve the MTA but it’s not an either/or decision, we need to be doing all of the above. There is no reason not to do both – get cars off the road by taxing them for the costs they impose on everyone else (lost time and higher pollution) and then using those funds to improve the MTA and make it into the world class system we all know this city needs.
Congestion pricing that started at 60th was, imo, going to be a disaster for the uws especially. People coming from Jersey would take the bridge, look to park around here and take mass transit to midtown or below.
If they’d combined it with a neighbourhood parking pass thing, like in Boston, where at least a decent number of spots or streets were reserved for residents of the area, I think it’d have been a good idea, but just charging anyone crossing to below 60th was going to cause endless traffic and people circling for parking up here.
How could they park around here? They’re gonna leave their job every two hours to feed the meter?
That person probably means on the weekend… Most of the side streets are free on the UWS, always. Minus 79th, 86th, etc.
And, you have to move the car when the meter period is over. NOt just feed the meter!
With the cutoff at 60th, I wondered whether it might make traffic and congestion WORSE on most of the UWS since everyone would be staying above 60th. But definitely a problem for MTA funding.
Cutoff is where it is (or was) largely due to exits and approaches to East River crossings. Northern most being Queensboro Bridge at East 59th street.
On West Side all North River crossings except GWB are below 42nd street so that was an easy no brainer
They will find a way to get money. Capital money is where politically connected folks get the cash for their weekly money baths.
Kathy Hochul: Thank you for putting a stop to this nonsense. In your talk today you said congestion pricing is “suspended indefinitely”, but the way you spoke, it is clear congestion pricing is a dead letter during your administration.
Totally agree. Congestion pricing is a horrible idea. NYC is not designed for it. Those coming in from most suburbs are already paying to cross bridges and tunnels (a great first step would be to put tolls on the untolled East River crossings).
I do not want to know how much they have spent on countless “studies” on this, and I think they had started putting up some of the infrastructure.
We on the UWS should particularly dislike this because it was going to turn our neighborhood into a nightmare of people circling and parking here to avoid paying the fee.
People can’t spend hours every day “circling and parking” if they have to be at work at 9AM! They can’t leave their jobs to feed meters every two hours either. Congestion pricing would force people to leave their cars home and take mass transit, and that’s a good thing!
If only there was ‘mass transit’ accessing the city! People living in the suburbs should be able to take buses and trains into NY.. That’s it! NO cars !
Bridge and tunnel tolls exist for those who want a faster and more convenient route to where they’re going. I don’t feel sorry for their having to pay an additional congestion pricing fee in order to access the heavily trafficked zone.
Nassau County has worse traffic in some spots
What an absolute clown show.
I’m against congestion pricing but the back-and-forth of this whole thing has just been embarrassing. How is NYC supposed to handle the massive problems (housing, cost-of-living, homelessness, the mentally ill on the streets) if leadership can’t even get its act together on something as comparatively minor as this?
Not only a huge L for riders of public transportation and foes of gridlock – it makes the Governor look like she’s negotiating from a position of weakness.
I’m all in favor of more funding for mass transit, but this plan was just a loser from the start. Nothing was well thought through. For example, if you’re entering Manhattan via the 59th St Bridge, whether or not you pay the fee depends on which level of the bridge you take. That’s just idiotic. I know a number of UWS residents who park in the upper west 50s who’d be paying the fee to drive a few blocks to the parking spot they pay hundreds of dollars per month for. No apparent thought was given to how the fee would impact traffic patterns, and the impact this would have on neighborhoods in Upper Manhattan.
How about if we get some enforcement at the turnstiles and on busses? That savings will be within spitting distance of $1 billion/year.
This is one of the best things to happen in the past two years.
What at least one person mentioned is the fact that if the following was to be done, the MTA would have plenty of money:
1. Fare beaters – arrest them or implement better security
2. Ticket and tow double parked cars and delivery trucks
Sounds like a simple plan to me.
If we could somehow enforce the horn honking laws, I think the city would have a 5 billion dollar surplus within a few months.
Not for nothing people keep going on about fare evasion, but that’s something MTA alone cannot handle.
When Rudy G. became mayor in came “broken windows” which included a crack down on subway and bus fare evasion. Those caught were not just given desk appearance tickets (like now), but processed through system.
Then came BLM and defund LE movement along with B de B and suddenly fare evasion became an issue of race, “inequality” and so on.
Previous Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance along with current and district attorneys of four other boroughs either will not prosecute fare evasion cases or do so quite reluctantly.
https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2018/02/01/manhattan-da-will-no-longer-prosecute-turnstile-jumping-229568
This would do nothing to address the air pollution, noise pollution, and slower emergency response times caused by traffic congestion.
I want cleaner air for my kids.
People worried that this will somehow increase traffic in our neighborhood need to look at all the studies from other cities that show improvement in traffic.
I’m confused about all the air comment. The UWS is really not polluted at all, minus the stuff now due to fires in the summer. It’s still a well ventilated coastal towns.
You want less congestion? Put a quota on uber and lyfts!! They spend most of their days driving around looking for people to pick up.
Josh,
Most people don’t realize that high-rise buildings actually are major contributors of emissions and impact on the environment.
Of course in NYC no acknowledgement of the problem of high-rises and no effort to address unfettered development…
“High-density, high-rise cities also resulted in the largest carbon emissions compared to the other three models — and that includes low-density, low-rise scenarios that resemble suburban-styled cities. The lowest carbon emitters were high-density, low-rise configurations.”
Real estate types want high rise buildings. And if people buy luxury condos and don’t live in them, all the better! 40+ foot tall void spaces for mechanicals, etc. What’s not to like for Adams and his machine of running dog loyalists?
It was bad enough under DiBlasio.
“Congestion pricing” doesn’t bother me as much as the disingenuous way it’s been presented. The city proposed this under the guise that it will cut pollution and traffic. Anyone with the slightest grip on reality knows that neither will happen, including the city’s lawmakers. Just call it what it is: another toll for city revenue.
Tragic… after years and years of studying the benefits and negotiating with various constituents, Hochul puts the angry drivers of New Jersey over the transportation benefits to New Yorkers.
I understood the NY State Assembly had passed this by law, how exactly does Hochul just get to disregard the Assembly?
Probably the right decision, and for the same reasons people have been arguing for YEARS.
Here at the last minute, Ol’ Last-Minute Hochul with her toes hanging off the diving board chickens out on congestion pricing.
She looks ridiculous, impotent.
Time for new leadership.
Interesting what this portends going into November. The cynical and duplicitous way this was passed forced a postponement at the last moment seems to indicate some real statewide electoral concerns in some tighter districts and races.
The shrill streetsblog crowd pushed this through via deceitful virtue signaling representatives who passed it without knowing any details (including cost). As the widespread opposition became more clear all of the duplicitous politicians in tight races tried to cover themselves by saying they didn’t realize what the impact would be.
So magically going into an election this became a statewide issues politicians could no longer hide from so they put it on hold until after the election.
Let’s see how short of a memory they think the electorate has.
I enjoyed reading the articles on streetsblog today, although they seemed to be missing their usual hectoring tone.
Unfortunately eventually congestion pricing will be rammed thru.
This was a travesty. Congestion pricing works extremely well in literally every major city in Europe. Every American who visits European cities is amazed at how lovely and walkable the cities, and it partially because you cannot have any yokel barreling down the via Veneto on their way to a Trader Joe’s.
The loss of income for the MTA will be enormous and some of the “fixes” here a laughable. There is no way getting “fare beaters” to pay will come close to closing the $1 billion dollar gap as 1: there aren’t enough of them and 2: enforcement requires hiring and paying more police officers. As for ticketing delivery trucks that already happens.
Instead our fair governor has suggesting increasing taxes on NYC businesses to cover the loss. Again allowing westchester and Jersey to use our city as parking lots and dumping the cost on the businesses that are here.
It’s shameful and ridiculous an obvious ploy to hold on to a couple of House seats
UWS Doctor,
Yes many lovely cities in Europe – with old low-rise buildings and smaller populations.
Not huge high-rise buildings.
I just don’t see that they are comparable to NYC?
And as pretty as Amsterdam is, it is actually tough for pedestrians as bicycles are everywhere and have right of way. Bicycles typically don’t stop (unless a light at a major intersection) – whereas vehicles do stop.
BTW Amsterdam is cutting its tram service
Perhaps if all the skyscrapers and luxury high-rise were torn down in NYC…
Famously low rise Milan, Singapore and London have instituted congestion pricing successfully. Many of the other cities have restrictions on either the type of car (Paris) or area of the city (basically all of Italy). Can you own a Hummer in France? Yes. Can you blast down the Champs d’Elysee at 53 MPH in it? No.
As for skyscrapers, its density that makes it possible for RESIDENTS of the city to live most of the day car free. Within 3 blocks of my apartment are 3 grocery stores, 2 hardware stores, my kid’s school and like 547 weed shops. Congestion and density make it so that residents here do NOT need to drive their cars to do local chores.
Congestion pricing is to make NON residents who use our city but do not pay taxes to kick in for local service to help pay for things.
Complaints about MTA service? Sure the MTA needs money. As of now congestion pricing would have been used to make your experience with the MTA better. That is now gone and capital projects will halt, that is unless Albany decides to raise your local NYC taxes again to pay for these projects.
Doctor,
I grew up on the West Side and actually there were many more local shops – and there weren’t skyscrapers.
As for drivers, among others, many building workers live far away without transit access and must drive. The night security person where I work drives. Perhaps ask the maintenance staff where you live pr work?
Another example is gigworkers delivering ecommerce like instacart, meal kits – they are using personal vehicles,
Everyone has their own good reason for driving their personal vehicles. Building workers and security people are not sacred cows.
Many Europeans drive cars. You are just there on vacation.
NYC businesses are already taxed to breaking point. This includes 30% MTA surcharge.
https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/tax/library/new-york-budget-adopts-various-tax-increases-other-changes.html#:~:text=MTA%20Surcharge%20(Revenue%20bill%2C%20Part,or%20after%20January%201%2C%202024.
https://www.connectpayusa.com/blog/how-mta-tax-works-new-york
There is a whole litany of taxes, fees, and surcharges levied by NYS in aid of MTA.
Look at your telephone or utility bills, there is a MTA tax/surcharge.
From MTA’s website:
“The largest share of MTA revenue — $7.222 billion — comes from dedicated taxes and subsidies the Authority receives from the cities and states that we serve. Another $6.870 billion comes from fares and tolls.”
https://new.mta.info/budget/MTA-operating-budget-basics
MTA tax/surcharge on telecommunication bills bills:
https://dps.ny.gov/telecommunications-taxes-and-surcharges
Metropolitan commuter transportation mobility tax, a tax on self employed or employers in aid of MTA.
https://www.tax.ny.gov/bus/mctmt/
Rest including tax on “for hire” vehicles, tax on recording mortgages and so on.
https://new.mta.info/budget/dedicated-taxes
In short whether people use mass transit or bridges/tunnels or not MTA has their hands in people’s back pockets four thousand ways from Sunday.
Vote her out!
Where can I find the studies of the expected benefits of congestion pricing?
She’s doing it for politics but this governor is really really bad at politics. If it wasn’t for the incompetence of the NY State Democratic Party that she leads the Democratic Party would probably control the House. She let George Santos steal a seat without looking into his past. And now she’s appeasing people who will never vote for her or a Democrat no matter what.
Houchl just pulled the ultimate weeing on someone’s leg and telling them it’s raining.
Nothing about effects of CP on residents in NYC especially economic were unknown months or years ago when scheme was announced and planned.
So now out of no where with three weeks before CP is set to begin Houchl sees the light and rides to the defence of NYC residents. I don’t believe a single bit of it.
Houchl was got at by person or persons and or events playing out nationwide if not within NYS.
There is an election in November with entire state assembly (and also?) senate seats in play. Entire NYS Congressional delegation in House is up for reelection as well.
Houchl herself along with AG and other top seats don’t face voters until 2026. That gives Ms. Houchl a few years to sort out this mess she’s now created.
Hallelujah ! Congestion pricing would have destroyed the UWS !!
Don’t celebrate too loudly. CG is coming back after elections are over. It’s only been shelved temporarily because it’s an electoral liability.
The neighborhood supporters of congestion pricing fail to see how this plan would have made our area more unsafe and more polluted with cars cramming our parking spots and garages and driving up to 60th street to drop off passengers. It was an unfair tax that would have destroyed the neighborhood we know and love. if the politicians want to reduce emissions and congestion, the toll should be set up at the borders of this borough – not in the middle of it where the focus was clearly about revenue and not safety. Time to privatize the MTA and get rid of its smug president so that it becomes an efficient business as opposed to another source of government waste.
Thank goodness common sense has prevailed! The unintended consequences of increased traffic and pollution in the UWS, UES, and other perimeter areas of the congestion zone were not adequately considered. Nor was the added costs to restaurants and other businesses in the congestion zone adequately considered.
And how much did we spend installing overhead readers? What a last minute joke. Never mind – the city will just jack up my real estate taxes or something else
Most seem to think if this went through, traffic around here would be crazy with extra cars looking for spots and such. If the toll was $15 and they parked around here they would have to spend lots of time looking. And for what? To save $9. They would need to take the subway to and from. That’s $6. Maybe some would do it, but the extra time it would add to someone’s commute probably wouldn’t be worth saving $9 in the long run.
There is also a finite number of parking spots so many more vehicles looking for one is a fairly futile effort.
Especially since so many spots are taken up by:
Building staff who place cones or other obstacles in gutter to block out spaces.
Building staff who hold spots for themselves and or residents.
Large scale abuse of various placards (doctor, city employee/appointee).
When city took away parking on east side of CPW for that new bike lane almost over night nearly every apartment building along west side began blocking off spots.
What is lost in the noise is the cause of congestion in the first place. It is not the volume of cars/trucks in the business district.
If you want to compare NY to London, first implement a “do not block the box” rule. Do you see any driver blocking the box in London? No … Do you know why? Because there is a steep fine.
Walking anywhere in mid-town Manhattan, you can see how cars block the box and cause huge traffic jams. Often times police are at the junction but fail to manage the traffic properly.
Fixing a problem like this will go a long way to reducing congestion.
As far as the MTA is concerned, it is probably the most shameless agency in NYC. They have the gall to ask for all this money and at the same time can’t manage their budgets, over time, fare beaters, etc.
Congestion Pricing was not going to solve these basic problems.
👍I knew it from the beginning… Congestion pricing would never work…. What a waste of money for all this nonsense researching that ‘wasn’t’ going to work.
So she comes to this conclusion after two years and millions of dollars were wasted on setting up the congestion pricing cameras? This woman is an ever spinning hamster wheel of incompetence.
“This woman is an ever spinning hamster wheel of incompetence.”
Hahahahha
As a UWS area worker who is Muslim, this is great news. Especially when police stop and frisk Muslims and then see them as suspected terrorists if they are on public transit in Manhattan including the UWS. Call the UWS elected officials as a Muslim working on the UWS unfairly profiled and seen as a criminal unfairly on the UWS, they don’t care that whatever is going on in Gaza is taken out on us, to people like me this is more than about congestion pricing or curb space, this is about our place on the UWS. Go to any church or synagogue here and ask them how many of them live on the UWS and vote here. Go to the only mosque on the UWS on 72nd and RSD and ask them how many live on the UWS and vote here?
Irrelevant word salad.
It is very much relevant when Muslims are messed with when on public transportation.
Also important to note there are major and conflicting “goals” for Congestion Pricing.
The MTA actually wants vehicles because it needs the revenue.
But the bike lobby like Transportation Alternatives wants zero vehicles so that the bike infrastructure/bike lanes can be expanded.
And in the background – the City keeps enabling/creating more congestion especially unfettered development and does zero to address Uber and e-commerce which cause vehicle increase.
Too bad she didn’t figure this out before she spent a 1/2 Billion dollars on cameras for this nonsense.
Poor public, still buying into the press release about clean air and ambulances getting through.. Congestion Pricing had nothing to do with any of that — It was about raising money for an old and falling system. overburdened with big union obligations. The business community obviouly got to her (Hochul.) Maybe it was the tenants in and around Hudson Square? ABC / Disney.? The Broadway League? The Financial industry? I’m sure we will find out in a few months in a big exclusive in the NYT’s or Frontline.
On another note — Please stop equating NYC to Europe or other parts. (One commenter actully brought up Via Veneto LOL) We are not London, Amsterdam, or Singapore. We are on an Island. Nothing here is like anything else, anywhere else. This will require a unique solution from a unique leader with an honest assessment of the issue without pandering to any one group. Sounds almost impossible..
Singapore is an island.
Very funny. Not very helpful. One line comebacks will not solves this, but, if it makes you feel better, go for it.
Amsterdam is also, very famously, a city made up entirely of islands. Not the most factually accurate post.
“Poor public, still buying into the press release about clean air and ambulances getting through.. Congestion Pricing had nothing to do with any of that” – It really does make the air cleaner and makes the ambulances respond faster though and none of the rest of the post actually refutes that.
I’m sure you would agree that Singapore is not NYC.
Different customs, different culture, different problems. The system there was first implemented in 1975 (restricted zone) and then a fully automated, and larger, system went into effect in 1998 (way before the pandemic and WFH.) Furthermore, the system sets rates for drivers to use the road based on location, time of day, vehicle type, and real-time speeds. — In other words — smartly.
One only needs to look at the simple fiasco that was the way some cars were to be tolled on the 59th street bridge (upper level going into Manhattan was free. The lower level was not) to know that this GP scheme, as envisioned, was not fully baked.
What a joke. I see pros and cons in the congestion pricing but how much money and resources were thrown at this over this just in recent years only for the Governor to decide a month before implementation that she has an opinion? What absolute cowardice and incompetence to weigh in now. She was obviously hoping this would just go away without her having to be involved. Another example of NY State politics being a total wasteland squandering our resources while other states race ahead.
Somebody got to her. Affordability? By not driving their cars into Manhattan people would save money by taking mass transit. Parking fees are astronomical. Gas. What are these vague unintended consequences?
Word is this decision came from Washington, DC. With inflation so high, the Biden Admin and House Democrats ordered Hochul to cancel this proposal as it would have increased travel costs & angered many suburban voters in NY and NJ.
Inflation right now is 3.36%. That is not high by any definition of the word.
Also, any sources on this mysterious decision from Washington DC? From Biden, terrified of losing…. New York?
I understand the logic of discouraging weekday office commuters from driving in, but the plan was terrible for residents in the zone. If you wanted to go away for the weekend, then you’d have to pay $15 just to get your car and $15 to come back. Ridiculous.
Weekday office commuters don’t drive to Midtown in large numbers. That isn’t the source of congestion. I will bet many more UWSers take uber or lyft to their offices downtown.
Coward with made up 11th hour excuses says what now?
Why not just try it for a month or two and see which predictions are right and which are wrong, and then decide what to do next? There’s nothing better than experimental evidence. It beats fortune-telling every time.
For those who support the reversed decision, feel free to send a thank you note. Decisions like this typically do not occur and are often ‘thankless’.
Couldn’t agree with her more. It will reek havoc on the UWS as hundreds of commuters seek street parking.
Generational opportunity lost. Dems lack confidence in their suburban messaging. We shouldn’t have to pay the price.
Another piece this time by Politico pretty much says same thing.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/05/new-york-city-toll-hochul-democrats-00161930
None of reasons Houchul has given for stopping CP were not known to her months or years ago. So why wait until three weeks before thing was to begin and after spending half billion USD to hit stop button?
It’s just political cowardice. The benefits for NYC have not changed, just another New York governor selling out the city.
You want more people to ride public transportation? Simple……. Just make it clean and safe and you won’t need to beg people
If it’s an affordability issue, then lower the rate, work out the kinks, and adjust the policy gradually as we see the actual impact. $5 instead of $15 would generate $300 million, which is not chump change. People would still grumble, but $5/day wouldn’t devastate a household budget like $300 a month might, at $15× 5 days/week. $5 also is more in line with the current $2.50-$2.75 taxi congestion surcharge for trips below 96th. Anything to dissuade vehicles from entering say 30s to 40s would be fantastic. That area is a nightmare as currently (un)managed.
It is noteworthy that MTA said it would conduct a study of the effects on traffic in other parts of the city AFTER tolling was in effect. ( Why do a study after and not before?)
Also, because commuters now flood areas of Queens, park and take the subway, as they do in Washington Heights, those council members are now advocating for residential parking permits. So, yes, it would be a mess for UWS
NY Governor Kathy Hochul was a last-minute intervention that saves us from catastrophe! 🙏
I am suspicious of any intiative promoted and lobbied for by TransAlt.
I think a factor in favor of Hochul’s decision is that congestion pricing will make things more expensive. Trucks coming in having to pay more … ? And won’t it give yet one more reason for suburbanites not to want to come into the city?
It’s good that a bit of progress has made made against turnstile jumpers, but a LOT more needs to be done to crack down on fare beaters on bus and subway. I don’t care how poor the person supposedly is. Young people jump over the turnstile as though they think they’re suckers if they pay. This must stop.
I’m sure she got many earfulls from businesses, residents as well as LI, NJ and CT folks, threatening to take their businesses elsewhere and folks explain their resistance to coming into the city to dine and enjoy a night at a Broadway show or a concert at Carnegie. All of that threatens her chances of a re-election because the city’s revenue would suffer. She pulled it to save herself the embarrassment.
You do realize that LI, NJ and CT are dependent on NYC right? It’s not the other way around. They are going to ‘take their business elsewhere’? Ha! Move any of those neighborhoods to the middle of the country and no one is paying millions of dollars to live there.
Trump is only down by single digits in our state. That is also a problem.
I bet the city could raise a billion dollars easily if it let traffic agents and NYPD enforce the laws on the books. Double parked in rush hour on an avenue and not in the car ready to move on request? Ticket. Expired fake license plate? Towed. Running a red light on a residential block? Fine is doubled. Throw in progressive ticketing leading to suspended licenses and you could raise that money easily.
Never in a car but today with relatives….
Zero traffic in Manhattan at 8:45.
Got to Lincoln Tunnel in straight ride.
But there was lots of traffic in NJ coming out of the tunnel.
The traffic was to/from Jersey City
Of course this is gonna happen eventually.
Here’s a transplant’s take on a cab ride down Columbus Ave into the heart of darkness –
https://www.garrisonkeillor.com/my-position-on-congestion-pricing-plainly-stated/
[…] issue – the need to regulate micromobility vehicles – is relatively rare for Rag commenters. Our story about Governor Kathy Hochul’s shock decision to scrap congestion pricing, for example, prompted […]
All that money the congestion tolls generate was going to go to the pockets of the politicians and MTA execs anyways. They don´t care about the middle class, don’t believe any of that. When the election is over, congestion pricing tolls will be active like nothing happen. No need to be thanking these politicians like some of ya want to do.