This story was originally published by THE CITY. Sign up to get the latest New York City news delivered to you each morning.
By Jose Martinez, THE CITY
When Gov. Kathy Hochul backed away Wednesday from the vehicle-tolling plan that was supposed to bankroll billions of dollars in critical transit system upkeep and expansion, the MTA was left facing a $15 billion hole in its capital program — and no clear answers on how to fill it.
Hochul’s hasty retreat from congestion pricing, after years of planning and hundreds of millions of dollars in MTA spending, has thrown the future of those long-promised improvements into question as angry agency board members, staffers, and advocates wonder what’s next.
“There is no Plan B,” said Midori Valdivia, an MTA board member who formerly served as chief of staff to a past agency chairman.
While Hochul said that she will work with federal and city governments to find ways to make up for the billions the MTA had expected to generate from tolling drivers into Manhattan’s south-of-60th-Street congestion zone, her press office offered no insights a day later.
Kathy Wylde, head of the influential business group Partnership for New York City, told THE CITY Thursday that Hochul had confirmed to her in a text message that the pause on congestion pricing is temporary.
But the governor also faces the possibility of a revolt from MTA board members, several of whom have come out against her about-face.
“With congestion pricing, we had a potent remedy for what has been a persistent inequity at the heart of New York’s previous failures to invest in the MTA network,” board member David Jones, president and chief executive of the Community Service Society, said in a statement.
There are also questions about whether Hochul even has the power she thinks she has.
“She can’t do this unilaterally,” said Rachael Fauss, senior policy advisor for Reinvent Albany, a capital watchdog group. “She needs the legislature to agree and she needs the MTA board to agree and these are big asks.
“Will she have any political capital left to fund the next capital plan?”
Derailed Plans
For a transit system still climbing out of a pandemic that sunk ridership and revenues, Hochul’s decision to indefinitely delay the Central Business District Tolling Plan, as congestion pricing is officially known, carries enormous implications for the current five-year capital plan and the next one — which the MTA board must approve by October.
“It leaves us in a position of, ‘Ok, we thought we had figured it out but now we’re back to square one,’” said Eric Goldwyn, an assistant professor and member of the Transit Costs Project at the NYU Marron Institute’s transportation and land-use program.
The city’s Independent Budget Office also warned in a new report Thursday that the delay comes with a heavy cost, while citing how congestion pricing has been successfully implemented in London, Singapore, Milan and Stockholm.
“To delay this program now halts decades of policy and implementation work representing unquantifiable amounts of time, money and other resources,” the IBO report said.
The pause comes on top of the MTA already having halted the awarding of contracts on most capital construction projects as a result of the numerous lawsuits filed over congestion pricing.
Transit officials said those projects — for signal upgrades on multiple subway lines, the purchase of zero-emissions buses, new train cars and essential maintenance work — are directly tied to the $15 billion that the MTA expected to pull in from congestion pricing.
“We’re now at the stage where that money is being delayed by this litigation and there is important work that we’re not able to get started,” Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA Construction and Development, told THE CITY in February. “Improving the system, expanding the system, Second Avenue Subway to East Harlem, making the system more accessible — we can’t get that done because we’re awaiting the results of this litigation.”
The current five-year capital program of more than $50 billion is the most ambitious in MTA history. It has, to date, helped fund signal upgrades on multiple subway lines, the installation of subway elevators in a system that remains largely inaccessible to people with disabilities and the purchase of new buses and subway cars.
The capital plan has also inched forward the process of eventually expanding Second Avenue’s Q line north of 96th Street with the awarding in January of the first contract on the next phase of the Second Avenue Subway, a $182 million deal to relocate underground utilities prior to the start of construction on a new 106th Street stop.
But transit observers said the MTA’s glossy expansion projects — including further work on the Q and the construction of an Interborough Express light rail line linking Brooklyn and Queens — are likely to be sidelined without congestion pricing money.
“With scarce dollars, being enamored of shiny new toys, even when they’re helpful, is all the more risky,” Andrew Rein, president of the watchdog Citizens Budget Commission, told THE CITY. “Those particular types of projects siphon off money from what is essential investment in making sure the system is in the shape it needs to be.”
Among the key planned investments is the MTA’s focus on expanding transit accessibility for people with disabilities, following a 2022 settlement of class-action lawsuits that requires 95% of all subway and Staten Island Railway stations be equipped with elevators or ramps by 2055.
“Governor Hochul proudly claimed credit for the settlement,” a group comprised of five disability-rights groups said in a statement Thursday. “We need those elevators and other essential transit projects to move forward so that disabled New Yorkers can take full advantage of our city’s vital transit system.”
THE CITY is a nonprofit newsroom that serves the people of New York. Sign up for our SCOOP newsletter and get exclusive stories, helpful tips, a guide to low-cost events, and everything you need to know to be a well-informed New Yorker. DONATE to THE CITY
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here.
The subway system is atrocious at this point, but the powers that be don’t seem to want to ask difficult questions like: is it possible that corruption and mismanagement is also a fundamental problem, not just a lack of additional tax dollars? I don’t know if cracking down on fare beaters, ghost cars, and illegal parking would make up for the deficit left by eliminating congestion pricing, but that’s the logical place to start really.
It shouldn’t take the failure to institute congestion pricing as a reason to crack down on the violations you mentioned. That should already be happening.
Taken a bus lately? People pile on through the exit door avoiding the fare.
Projects get moved from one capital plan to the other all the time, there is no serious crisis here, just a serious crisis of the plebes being here more than the gentry want them to be here for.
The MTA needs to clean itself up and manage its money better. Ticket and tow double parked cars and delivery trucks , fine fare beaters or haul them off to jail if they don’t pay the fine. This is not rocket science!
No one is going to jail over unpaid fines.
MTA does not enforcing parking, that would be NYPD’s job, hope that helps.
Parking violations have nothing to do with MTA.
Even if fare evasion was reduced to nearly nil numbers it still wouldn’t plug huge financial holes that chronically plague MTA and it’s divisions.
This is a classic example of rich and mostly white people lobbying for something most New Yorkers do not want or support. Finally, the backlash became too much to ignore.
New Yorkers know that the MTA is mismanaged and underfunded while politicians think nothing of giving billions to support non-citizens. Anti-police rhetoric has led to a reported $700 Million in lost revenue due to fare evasion and the subways are a cesspool of filth and crime. All of this while inflation remains high and wages stagnate. This is the background that the rich new New Yorkers are oblivious to.
Anyone who travels to Europe and places like London that are held up as shining examples knows just how unsuccessful these programs are. Residents are cutting down reader towers and others are physically blocking off zone neighboring streets because of the added congestion it has caused. Meanwhile, London HAS managed to expand the Underground and light rail service in a substantial way while the MTA has barely accomplished anything.
This entire farce is a reality check for politicians. Stop listening to the lobbying of special interest groups and engage the actual citizenry to come up with innovative solutions,.
So your theory is that“anti police rhetoric “ caused the police to stop doing their job for 4 years ? More likely they were instructed to stop enforcement during COVID – just like not enforcing illegal vehicle tickets and confiscation, not shuttering illegal smoke shops, dogs in subway and stores and the rest of it. People got happy doing what they want during COVID and giving all the finger – that’s how we got here. Now city and NYPD trying to put the genie back in the bottle
Well-stated!
May I also add that the proposed expansion plans of the 2nd Avenue Subway for 2 stops at a cost of $8 billion plus needs to be also put on “pause.”
The governor looks like a weak stooge coddling Upstate and NJ interests when she could have set a national example of a transportation and climate policy that will prepare us for a change climate. Truly embarrassing stuff: but we are fighting back.
Yes you are, demonizing car owners when 70% of NYC pollution is from our buildings. Your a member of Trans Alt that gives donations thru StreetsPAC to all our politicians and coddle Mark Gorton billionaire who calls workers and residents who pay the highest taxies in the US “pigs” when we park at the curb.
Yes Maxine, sometimes Americans form groups and organize to make our voice heard. It’s called “Democracy” and it is awesome.
That 70% figure is (a) wrong, (b) NY is already requiring buildings to shift to cleaner energy and (c) congestion pricing helps reduce the gridlock choking our streets from NJ/CT/LI drivers.
Many in Manhattan opposed congestion pricing. Manhattan Plaza in Hell’s Kitchen had a committee against congestion pricing and you cannot win an election on the west side without winning Manhattan Plaza.
Time to get rid of the unions and privatize the MTA. The agency needs to be run like a business because it is a business. The MTA takes in money and spends money – more than it has. Watching them cry about not being able to pay for projects the contracted for is like watching a person complain about running up credit card debt without a job to pay for it. Nothing will change until government is removed and real business leaders replace them. History proves this theory over and over and over again.
In case you’ve forgotten or were simply ignorant of fact New York City transit once was largely a private enterprise.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_New_York_City_Subway
https://www.nytransitmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Journey-to-the-Past-PreandPost_COMBINED.pdf
City government kept refusing fare increases to private subway and bus lines to keep them profitable and invest in maintenance, expansion, etc… So in end by 1953 NYC government took over entire NYC transit system forming New York City Transit Authority.
Turned out City couldn’t do any better managing transit system, especially attempting to balance fare increases (always politically unpopular) with needs of system.
Then came 1970’s NYC’s fiscal crisis where City begged Albany to take NYCTA off their hands and merge it with MTA. That actually turned out to be the best move in history of New York City mass transit.
By NYS constitution debt issued over a certain amount by the state must go through voter referendum. Robert Moses and others set up the public authorities to get around that requirement.
Over past many decades MTA has issued massive amounts of debt which funded all sorts of improvements, maintenance and expansion of bus and subway service.
Anyone who was around in 1970’s or even 1980’s can tell you about the pitiful state of NYC subway system. Things began turning around when MTA poured all that bonded money into system. This includes everything from restoration of Grand Central Terminal to Second Avenue subway.
No private entity will touch mass transit because it’s a financially losing venture.
Politics and other actions will never allow full fare box recovery rates. Even if that were true it still would not be enough money. Thus debt would have to be issued.
why is privatization always the proposed solution? companies want to maximize profit, not do what makes sense for citizens and doesn’t address the root issue, which should be enforcing penalties as consequences when mismanagement and embezzlement happens.
Privatization is what works when you have good management that cares about individuals.
nonsense!! make the mta a for profit enterprise. not a real solution, just sounds like loony trolling.
The greed demonstrated by setting the fee at $15 instead of maybe $5 helped lead to this downfall. $15 per day is usurious. $5 per day would have been more palatable and affordable. And everyone knows that whatever the starting price it would be subject to escalation every couple of years. So $15 today would be $20 in 2026 while $5 today might be $8 later.
This was/is pure greed and insensitivity to the pocketbooks of New Yorkers, all of whom would be affected by the rippling effects of this tax through the economy.
Political Suicide by Hochel right before our eyes.
And a big AMEN to that.
nycityny – the $15 fee is to dissuade drivers from entering the congestion zone which is the whole point of the plan.
The point of the plan is pretty clearly to collect money, as displayed by the reasons people are pissed. The entire argument that decreasing traffic was the whole point has been totally destroyed by the volume of anger nearly exclusively towards the new hole in the budget.
The point is not to encourage people to use transit. That is what a congestion pricing expert admitted.
If they are all dissuaded then there will be no $15 billion for the MTA. The whole point of the plan is a money grab.
They will not *all* be dissuaded obviously. If driving into the densest district in the country is so essential that you can’t possibly take the train, then it’s well worth $15.
It’s time for a new governor. Ms. Hochul just joined the Chris Christy hall of shame. New York City is the economic driver of the entire state and this shameful obeisance to the car lobby has cost us tens of millions and will cost us (residents of New York City) billions over time. She has forgotten she is governor of the entire state, not just the upstate and suburban lobbyists
I am so against congestion pricing….. a misnomer in any event. There are so many other ways of controlling congestion. The MTA takes in millions of dollars a day and can’t run the system properly. Then for a moment they saw a shiny new idea…..charging Road Runners $750,000 for the time the Verrazzano Bridge is closed for the marathon. Again, if it takes in $750,000 for a few hours why can’t they run the bridge properly without the extraordinary charge they currently charge for using the bridge. If private companies were run the same way the whole top echelon would be fired.
I don’t see how the charge is going to dissuade ppl from driving in . There is often no alternative..and there id a time cost to.spending 2hrs getting a bus and train after work to get home. Being late to make dinner or get kids home or sending a babysitter home later would cost more than 15$.
This was an mta money grab
where are you living where you have a 2 hour commute each way?
i live on the UWS and don’t own a car. When i need to go out of town, I rent: much much less expensive. I waste no time in parking. the best way to get around NYC is subway and walking.
the NY metro area has the best mass transit system in the US, but it has to be funded. Taking private cars into midtown and into lower Manhattan makes almost no sense. How much do you spend for parking?
Eh, I own a car and enjoy snowboarding, surfing, and backpacking, which you need a car to do. I also volunteer in Queens, dropping off meals for seniors, which again, I need a car to do.
I drive a 2010 car that I own outright. The only expense I save by renting instead of owning is car insurance, and at $250/mo, it’s much cheaper for me to own and park on the street than to rent.
I’m annoyed at congestion pricing because even though I don’t drive below 60th, it is going to push congestion up above 60th. An increase in air quality for those below 60th shouldn’t come at everyone’s expense. Solve congestion by making the subway more efficient, not by just shuffling the congestion around.
so you won’t be affected financially at all by congestion pricing, and yet you’re “annoyed” at it because you predict it will make streets above 60th more congested and also affect air quality in those areas.
of course, you don’t know if this is true. if congestion pricing puts more people on mass transit and changes the mix between car travel and mass transit in the direction of mass transit, it won’t have the effects you predict. it will be a net plus for everyone.
Lots of people are saying it would hurt the UWS because people from NJ and Westchester will drive to the UWS and park here. That makes no sense! Parking is very limited on the UWS and anyone who ever owned a car here (I did from the 80s through mid 90s, for a reverse commute) know the tremendous waste of time in finding a space. The rational course would be to drive to a local Metro North or NJ Transit station and park there.
Spending for parking and tolls is cheaper and more convenient than New Jersey Transit.
I find that hard to believe.
Then try NJT, I doubt you will like it. Also Jersey residents working here pay income taxes to New York not New Jersey as New Jersey issues a credit for taxes paid to New York as there is no tax reciprocity.
The MTA’s finacial problems are it’s own doing. Years of corruption, mismanagement and a failure to address and solve the problem of fare beaters which in itself would produce around a half billion more revenue yearly
Pure politics—it was tabled because it is unpopular and might cost D votes in tight races—expect it to come back apres election
The reference concernining Congestion Pricing by Rachael Fauss of Reinvent Albany is interesting since they are part of Transportation Alternatives, the group that wants you to rent care/bikes and give curb space to private for profit companies. They wasnt to eliminate private car ownership in citiesl. The easiest solution to help end car congestion in mid town is to eliminate Ubers, put light rail on all higheays and tunnels where possible and clean up the corrupt MTA instead of taxing families, workers and those who have to use cars in and out of the city where there is no public transportation.
At her Friday night press conference, Gov. Hochul said the “real stress, real pain” of her constituents “is all that really matters to me.”
I guess the real stress and pain of millions of NYC transit users forced to endure our delayed, infrequent, rickety subway system doesn’t count somehow. What a soul-crushing debacle.
Until we talk about why it costs NYC between 3-30 times more for capital improvements than it costs any other major city in the world, people will not take this argument seriously.
Why does it cost us more to add elevators to one station than it costs Boston to add elevators to 3? Why is the solution to that to just charge taxpayers more rather than investigate whats driving up the cost? Personally, it’s soul-crushing to me that in a city with some of the best talent and most money in the world, we cannot figure out how to make improvements for a reasonable price.
Indeed. Not to mention the slow, rickety and often out-of-order bus system. A weekday wait of 20 minutes for an 11 or a 7 on Columbus or Amsterdam Avenue, or a 10 on CPW is unacceptable but not unusual. It’s even more insulting when the cranky MTA app says the bus is one minute away. As important as an efficient subway system is to the life of the city, an equally robust surface system is a lifeline for the thousands who cannot navigate the multiple flights of stairs at stations without elevators.
Wait until the Manhattan bus redesign where they take away bus stops for faster bus service.
Doesn’t this more or less confirm that congestion pricing was just a cash grab?
The MTA is a black hole of wasted money. How about they start with the mother of all audits to see where all of our tax dollars are going?
For fun maybe they could try enforcing fare evasion, that’s $750 million in missing money right there. And then start looking into why they’re paying billions in overtime.
They don’t have an income problem, they have a spending problem.
Some may not be aware of the huge amount of farebeating.
There some stations where someone holds open the gate- and everyone swarms in.
Lots of fatebeating on buses.
No – not all poor people.
This is insignificant in the grand scheme of things, financially.
“Examining Midtown Traffic, Former NYC Transportation Commissioner Calls for New For-Hire Vehicle Regulations…
In a recent study, Lucius Riccio, adjunct professor of statistics, analytics, and operations at NYU’s Stern School of Business, found that 36.3% of 2,000 vehicles he recorded in randomly selected Midtown locations were for-hire vehicles run by app-based companies like Uber and Lyft; another 32.7% were personal cars and 14.2% were yellow or green cabs. If only cars are taken into account, for-hire vehicles accounted for 43.6%, personal cars 39.3%, and cabs 17.1%.
Riccio, a former MTA board member and DOT commissioner under Mayor David Dinkins, said his FINDINGS ILLUSTRATE THAT FOR-HIRE VEHICLES ARE THE REAL DRIVER OF TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN MIDTOWN & OTHER PARTS OF MANHATTAN TOO.
The number of for-hire vehicles skyrocketed in New York City in the last ten years, crossing 100,000 in 2018,”
Let’s get the dirty secret out there folks!
https://www.gothamgazette.com/city/11828-congestion-pricing-for-hire-vehicles-midtown-traffic?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR170TcrBhNKz7dB3R5BRxo1Xf3OltmlYJEw-gfJ_GsGY6TbrU5rEfRbjkM_aem_AQzk-nWZuL2R4JOSB5JNB2qxGt0M4yTvWmCSvZoaaS0fRoJE3j0RZnccKTxYRFqTV20SPLmZLvUEyPLw_sBQmQX_
While the number of rideshares in the city probably should be capped, I don’t think the difference between 43% and 39% is earthshattering. Rideshares provide a greater benefit for the public than private cars – anyone who pays can hire a car where is the private car can only be used by its owner.
I’m tired of seeing private cars parked everywhere, littering the streets and clogging up our roads. Keep the taxis and rideshares.
The difference is actually 60% to 40%.
43% rideshares + 17% cabs = 60% taxis/rideshares.
Those who are most likely to use taxis and rideshares are those using them within Manhattan or those using them to get to gentrifying neighborhoods or airports. The private cars allow access by so many more people who would not use a rideshare or a cab because it is too cost prohibitive. This is not really about reducing congestion, this is about making Manhattan including the UWS for a certain kind of person.
The problem is that turnstile jumping is epidemic, and cost the MTA Billions of dollars per year. Only in New York would anyone think to solve the problem of train riders not paying their fare by charging people who don’t ride trains.
I don’t understand the hatred toward congestion pricing by UWSers. How many own cars that we regularly drive into midtown? i am 10 minutes from Times Square by subway.
The idea that the subway is a “cesspool of dirt and crime” is a huge lie. I am on the trains close to 2 hours every day. That is not what i see. Are there incidents? Sure. These mostly involve mentally ill people and i see about once every month or two months. they are easily avoided. So much gloom and doom!
Congestion pricing has been a success in international cities. and we do have to cut back on “car culture”, unless you’re a global warming denialist.
Climate change is real and an issue but not the only issue. The pandemic has showed us that there are limitations as to how much sacrifice we are willing to accept. Using public transit is a sacrifice.
I’m happy I can ride the train every day and not have to drive. It’s not a sacrifice at all. I can read, knit, listen to podcasts or play games. I don’t have to deal with traffic and other people’s terrible driving. I love the subway and I know I’m not the only one.
Congestion pricing expected traffic reduction is 17 percent (153,000 vehicles)
So what happens if it reduces traffic more, than the toll will need to be increased to make up the shortfall.
The annual requirement is $1 billion, a disaster for the MTA would be if traffic reduced by 40 percent.
The MTA would need to raise the toll to stay above the mandatory $1 billion.
When the implementation is based on a flat number. I can see why people view it as a money grab firstly
reducing traffic by 40% would not be “a disaster for the MTA”. It would be a huge success for congestion pricing and would make midtown and downtown much more pleasant for everybody. It would have a big impact on carbon pollution. And most of those people would now be taking mass transit, so your revenue estimates are wrong.
Much more pleasant for those who can afford Manhattan and tourists
you think the only people who go into midtown and downtown are rich people and tourists?
There really needs to be some data on all the personal cars being used for commercial or business purposes – like gig workers doing e-commerce delivery or small businesses transporting supplies or equipment or cars pulling food carts.
These cars don’t have commercial plates.
DOT should eliminate bike spending – and send funds to State MTA
Buses are fine i you’ve got plenty of time to reach your destination in the City! But it takes forever to get around highly congested Manhattan … If you live less than 5 minutes away from the entrance to a subway .. Fabulous!! …… However how many of us have that opportunity! ? ….. I live on the FAR WEST SIDE… by 60th street… it takes forever to get to the subway. And I ain’t as young as I was.. and it’s all uphill… With all the new apartments going up they should add more buses … Half the massive number of people taking the M57 get on the buss via the exit so the MTA looses a lot of money. .. Crazy.
Sanity prevails! And it can continue to prevail if you vote accordingly.
No worry’s MTA will find a way other than the most ridiculous idea of “Congestion Pricing” . It was never meant to be…. and it will never happen.
Move all those cameras to find the Toll and Subway beaters.
Among us thousands of residents who live near – practically IN – all access routes to/from 96th Street entrance/exit of Henry Huudson Pkwy., this decison is a continuing MENACE to our lives. I live at West 97th Street & WEA. Crossing streets here is an act of courage, maybe of folly.
Gov. K. Hochul – who I voted for as a fellow Democrat – is NO friend to UWS residents. Vehicular traffic is worsening as we hoped for a better MTA – busses & subway – to reduce the 4-wheeled (sometime far more than 4 wheels) menaces that try to mow us down daily. What a slap in the face! Hochul will never get my vote again.
Signed: 89 year old who walks with cane.
The long arm of “Master Builder” Robert Moses strikes again!
Maybe our answer to you trying to push non Manhattanites out who cannot or do not want to deal with overcrowded subways is to actually finish his job and build the Mid-Manhattan Expressway and LOMEX. Also without Robert Moses, you would not have had social housing and NYCHA.
Hochul is a crony and a clown and a coward. Glad we got that cleared up. Back to western NY were she belongs. Vote her out!
If the MTA wants monies for its Capital Projects, it should start enforcing the Fare, or at least secure entrances so fares may not be evaded so easily. West 79 street is one such example , , , its North and South Bound entrances were worked on months ago, and to this date, the panic/emergency doors have yet to be installed. In place are black doors, which can be easily entered with a simple pull of the door. Employees from nearby stores; parents with kids; etc. enter freely for FREE. Been happening for months. Probably just one of many ‘broken doors’ throughout the system.
I think it’s telling that nowhere in the article does it mention traffic, pollution or congestion (as related to congested roads.) This “plan” was, and is, about raising money for a subway system that has not aged well. Perhaps, the entire scheme might it have had more buy-in had it been called “The NYC Subway Rescue Plan,” and not been masqueraded as something else.
Car drivers understand the importance of a well-run public transit system, and appreciate it, but demonizing them and charging this fee as if it were a “sin tax” only divided the public at large more, rather than unifying it. Be honest with the people, and they will come to your support.
Thank you Governor Hochul for a commonsense decision.