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By Jose Martinez, THE CITY
The MTA on Wednesday unveiled a pared-down plan to maintain the transit system — which was forced on the agency after Gov. Kathy Hochul halted congestion pricing days before the start of the vehicle-tolling tolling plan.
The Central Business District Tolling Program, voted into law by state lawmakers in 2019, would have been a first for a U.S. city and aimed to pay for $15 billion of upkeep and expansion projects in the MTA’s $55 billion 2020 to 2024 capital program. The money would have modernized subway signals, funded the purchase of thousands of new trains and buses, renovated stations and increased station accessibility for people with disabilities.
Instead, the MTA’s board meeting on Wednesday confirmed that the transit agency is gutting its ambitious future plans after Hochul earlier this month paused the June 30 start of a tolling program that had been counted on to cut congestion, improve air quality and fund transit improvements.
The reworked plan now shifts away from station repairs and accessibility upgrades, as well as expansion projects that would have extended the Second Avenue Subway to Harlem and create a Brooklyn-Queens light rail line. The MTA will instead focus on what officials described as “higher priority” projects that will keep the system safe and reliable.
“We’re talking about track, we’re talking about the elevated structures, the tunnels, we’re talking about the power system, state of good repair to literally keep the service going,” Tim Mulligan, the MTA’s deputy chief development officer, said during a presentation to the board.” Those are the projects that went to the top of the list.”
But the shift will also slow plans to buy the next generation of subway cars and delay the MTA’s purchase of more than 250 electric buses, even as the agency faces a 2040 mandate to fully electrify its 5,800-coach fleet by 2040.
In all, $16.5 billion of what the MTA described in agency documents released during Wednesday’s meeting as “less urgent projects” will be deferred.
“Some projects are going to be put to the back burner as a result,” Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and CEO, said while addressing the board. “And no matter how we feel about the pause on congestion pricing, we are going to work with everyone — the executive chamber, the legislature, the feds — to find a way to preserve and revive the projects that are being resequenced right now, because we are short of money.”
A 10-1 vote by the MTA board members who were present Wednesday inside the agency’s Lower Manhattan boardroom affirmed Hochul’s move to indefinitely delay the implementation of congestion pricing, but also leaves open the possibility of restoring the cuts to the capital program if and when funding becomes available.
“When that financial solution that is being talked about arrives, God willing, we will be ready to put Humpty Dumpty back together again as quickly as possible,” Lieber said before the vote.
The single nay vote on Wednesday came from David Mack, a Long Island real estate executive who represents Nassau County on the board — and who in March was the sole board member to vote against the tolling rates.
Road Rage
The sudden shift away from a plan that was years in the making — and which cost the MTA hundreds of millions of dollars in tolling infrastructure and design work — stirred up outrage among elected officials and other mass transit advocates, who packed the MTA boardroom to protest Hochul’s about-face on congestion pricing.
“The governor’s abrupt announcement to indefinitely pause the implementation of this program was shocking and deeply disturbing,” said Assemblymember Robert Carroll (D-Brooklyn), who is on the committee that oversees the MTA, told the board. “The governor’s move is bad environmental policy, bad transportation policy, short-sighted politics and a usurping of the legislative process.”
The reversal also has implications for the MTA’s 2025 to 2029 capital plan, which is due by October and which could take on deferred work, such as the next phase of the Second Avenue Subway.
“Investing in New York’s vast transit system is not one and done, congestion pricing was designed to fund a single five-year capital program” Jon Orcutt, a former top official with the city Department of Transportation said during the board meeting. “Defunding the 2020 capital program to the tune of $15 billion or $17 billion not only blows apart the current program, but it will severely impact what can be done in the 2025 capital program, pushing a huge set of needed transportation improvements and benefits into an unclear future.”
The MTA will now have to do less with less, as plans to make 23 more subway stations accessible to people with disabilities will be put on hold, despite a 2022 legal settlement that 95% of the nearly 500 subway and Staten Island Railway stations be made compliant by 2055.
“New Yorkers deserve nothing less than world-class transit and it is our responsibility to deliver that under any circumstances,” Dan Garodnick, an MTA board member and chair of the City Planning Commission, said during the meeting. “Needless to say, that gets a little harder with a significant shortfall of at least $15 billion in our 2020 to 2024 capital program.”
In an emailed statement after the board vote, Hochul touted her past “unwavering support for the MTA” and said that she will work with the agency and the state legislature to firm up funding for the deferred projects and future plans.
“This administration’s proven commitment to the MTA, as well as my record of delivering resources for critical priorities in the state budget, should provide the MTA with full confidence in future funding streams,” she said.
Lieber repeatedly described the response within the MTA to Hochul’s decision as “businesslike” and said the agency will make do for now.
“We’re not coming up with plans to go rogue and have a coup against the state of New York, it’s nonsense,” Lieber told reporters after the board meeting. “What we’re doing is being businesslike and just making sure, number one, that we’re protecting ridership and service and, number two, that we remain ready to implement congestion pricing when the temporary pause, as it’s been described, is lifted.”
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Best thing to happen since sliced bread!
Congestion pricing was a horrible, poorly thought-out idea. The fact that they were weeks from implementing it and there was still a lot of uncertainty about how it would actually be implemented says it all.
Most of those from outside Manhattan already pay plenty to cross bridges and tunnels. Tolling the untolled bridges would be a great first step – they could give a discount to NYC residents. But I have no idea why the 59th Street Bridge (or whatever it is called now) does not have a toll but the Triboro does.
The impact of congestion pricing on the UWS would have been horrible – everyone would have been circling our neighborhood to park to avoid paying the fee.
One solution is to figure out why it costs so much to do anything here – the cost of construction, particularly major projects, is several orders of magnitude higher than anywhere else in the world. Looking to manage the expense side might reduce the need to adjust the revenue side.
How about putting variable tolling in place to encourage deliveries, particularly in midtown, at off hours to reduce congestion? That shouldn’t be that hard.
I do not own a car and I am a daily MTA rider. But I think there are better ways to do this.
The idea that thousands of people would be “circling out neighborhood to park” to avoid a $15 toll is hardly credible, except perhaps in the streets immediately adjacent to the toll zone. Net of the subway fares that the would be circlers would pay to get to their destinations, we’re talking about a savings of $10 (less if there’s more than one person per car). If you think about the time involved, we’re talking less than minimum wage.
I think the people driving to the UWS to avoid a fee is overstated. What is the difference between driving to a train station to avoid the fee or driving to the UWS to avoid the fee?
Every time I carry our son in his stroller up and down the steps at the 79th St station, which has no elevator and now probably never will for the foreseeable future, I get mad that Kathy Hochul cut funding from congestion pricing. $15 is not some unreasonable, unfair amount of money. Right now, it costs my family of three $17.40 ($2.90 x 3 x 2) to take a subway trip to the congestion zone.
If anything, $15 is too low. Drivers refusing to compromise with very reasonable, incremental changes to make life easier for the majority of New Yorkers who depend on the subway is only going to end up creating a backlash where the majority demands even higher tolls and more street space. People who depend on the subway is furious about this.
I spent many years carrying a stroller up the steps at 86th and Broadway. And guess what – there is an elevator at 96th and one at 72nd, so if I really didn’t feel like dealing with it, I could go there and walk – the two elevators are less than 24 blocks apart so therefore no one is more than 12 blocks from an elevator, which really isn’t that bad.
Elevators at all stations is a major nice to have, not need to have.
And as others have noted, you shouldn’t be paying for a kid in the stroller. Though I appreciate your willingness to donate extra money to the MTA.
The easier solution is to add tolls to bridges and tunnels without tolls. And increase tolls that already exist. Rather than creating another level of complexity and double tolling some but not all people.
“Elevators at all stations is a major nice to have, not need to have.”
The obliviousness of the able-bodied on full display.
Just because the subways have always been bad for parents isn’t a very good reason to keep them that way forever. We should make them better. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/29/nyregion/mom-subway-stairs-death-malaysia-goodson.html
You may be happy to walk over a mile with a toddler for every roundtrip on the subway, in order to keep the cost of driving into Midtown $0, but that’s not going to be a very popular position – 98% of voters in this weeks primary voted for a pro-congestion pricing candidate. https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2024/06/17/five-way-democratic-primary-for-69th-assembly-district-heats-up https://www.westsiderag.com/2024/06/26/micah-lasher-wins-uws-morningside-heights-state-assembly-democratic-primary-with-53-of-vote
Accessible stations aren’t a nice to have, it is a requirement of federal law. https://www.thecity.nyc/2023/04/07/subways-disability-act-compliant-2055/
There is no complexity! Congestion pricing has been debated, and passed into law, studied, by environmental experts, survived multiple lawsuits and the cameras are installed. Just turn them on.
You don’t have to pay a fare for a small child in a stroller! Just saved you $5.80!
Why should drivers who already pay high tolls to cross bridges subsidize your subway ride? Makes no sense. It would be like raising subway fairs to lower drivers’ tolls.
Even with those tolls, drivers are being subsidized. Roads are expensive. They have to be repaired and maintained and plowed in the winter. Bridges are extremely expensive to maintain and operate. Traffic lights and signs cost money. DOT workers cost money. Not every driver pays those tolls either.
Cost for a family of three to take the subway – $17.60
Cost the same family would pay in tolls if they drove and used one of the Port Authority bridges and tunnels – $15.38.
Cost to drive if you don’t use one of the bridges or tunnels – $0. Congestion pricing just brings this to $15, still cheaper than the subway!
The city is a network that depends on both drivers and public transit riders, and it can’t survive without either one of them. But right now we make it cheaper and easier to drive than take public transit, which 1) isn’t fair 2) has all kinds of extra costs like pollution, noise, wasted time sitting in traffic, etc.
I think drivers get mad because they feel like the fee is a punishment, but they will get a huge benefit from less traffic, and they still still pay a cost less than taking the subway. This is not singling out drivers! Everyone else already pays $15 or more to get to Midtown!
If you’re worried about people circling the UWS to find parking to avoid the fee, then we should be lobbying to extend the zone into our neighborhood, not cancelling it altogether.
Bus and subway rider and non-driver – and completely against CP.
In midtown (let’s say 23-59th), most vehicles are commercial – not rich commuters in cars.
If the City wanted to reduce vehicles, it should be looking at reducing Uber and addressing the explosion of E-Commerce.
The City has increased congestion by reducing street space (adding bike lanes, closing streets), increasing traffic-street impediments and allowing unfettered overdevelopment.
(Like the casino on queue will surely reduce vehicles LOL)
BTW CP is for subway capital projects and will do nothing for bus riders – the MTA has been reducing bus frequency and bus routes for years.
There are days, especially weekends, when there are virtually no vehicles on the streets – yet a 20-30 minute wait for a bus.
True, weekend bus frequency could be a lot higher. But buses often get stuck in traffic if congestion pricing can reduce the traffic in midtown, then the bus would be a lot faster and more consistent.
UWS Dad,
Vehicle & traffic patterns and the streetscape in midtown and in other areas of the CP zone are different than pre-Covid.
As we know, changes include more remote work, surge in ecommerce delivery and expansion of bike lanes.
For example, now during the evening rush, it is actually possible to take the Select M15 north from Wall Street with little traffic/congestion
– except near crosstown chokepoints around Delancey and 59th Street for bridge access .
But there still aren’t enough buses – they are always crowded.
The west side needs a limited bus on the 104 yet the brains that figure this out have reduced buses because of low rifershiop. did they ever realize it is because the bus doesn’t come
My bet is that after the election – December or January – congestion pricing will be back under some “understanding” that the Governor and the MTA will have and that it will all come back with “some minor changes” that made it all possible.
One obvious way to check this is to see if they start dismantling the tolling system that is already in place or not.
That may be the case, but there are elected officials who have stated that it is unlikely congestion pricing is coming as long as Hochul is in office.
So then if the city has agreed to make subway stations have elevators and is mandated to switch to electric buses in 15 years, how is the city going to comply with these things?
Also that the City would implement Open Streets on avenues and force bus detours is evidence that the City is not prioritizing MTA transit and that the City keeps creating congestion.
It was never about pollution or congestion. They were disingenuous framing it that way. And now we see more clearly that it was all about revenue for city infrastructure. I don’t hold that against them, but NYC/NYS should have been more upfront about it.
I’m sure, that never ending mismanagement and corruption is main financial problem in every single agency
So who is going to primary Hochul and how soon can I donate to their campaign? I don’t have my heart set on congestion tolling and haven’t studied the situation enough to know whether or not it’s the right solution, but I am 1000% against her creating this last minute upheaval with no provision for other solutions for modernizing our pathetic and awful subway system. I’ve lately visited Paris and London and used public transit for everything, subways and buses both, then came home and had an awful train trip back from JFK that required three changes and had two separate cancelled trains (one LIRR, one 2 train) due to technical issues, not to mention the hideous shrieking squeal on board the already-creaky Airtrain and the filthy and dilapidated state of every single train on the route. We should be outraged at the awful state of our transit system.
It was a terrible idea for anyone living in the zone. $15 every time you get into your own car.
Wrong…it only costs $15 to enter the zone. One can drive within the zone as much as they want with no charge. The goal is to reduce the number of vehicles entering the zone.
The streets are congested because we keep on cutting them with bus lanes, bike lanes, restaurant sheds and others. Why is the public paying for MTA ambitions – and promote it as for the sake of the environment?
The streets were congested before bike lanes. Actually most took away parking – not driving lanes but I know it’s popular to blame bikes for all the ills of the city
The botched legal pot rollout and now this– the city is still looking for ways to make up for the big losses in tax revenues that occurred when wealthy New Yorkers fled during Covid. Like it or not, those strict lockdowns had trickle-down consequences
Nice try — the congestion pricing plan predates Covid.
I bet if congestion pricing actually was implemented it would have been botched as well.
She should have just tried 2 or 3 months ofa trial period to see the effects, revenue increase, congestion decrease, citizen feedback, etc. There’s been so much talk and no evidence to back up predictions . (Although other cities have had good success).
Maybe she will agree to a trial after the election
If you really wanted to cut congestion, you would cut Uber and Lyft who lobbied very hard For congestion pricing. Why not limit Amazon deliveries? If it was truly about congestion, it would have many different prices at different times. As a small business owner in that district, we were already starting to get charged $15 per delivery. Most small businesses in NYC have very small margin of profit, This would have impacted many of them. But nobody really cares about small business when you can get money from Uber Lyft and Amazon.
People seem to be ignoring the fact that congestion pricing wasn’t about reducing congestion and emissions. It’s always been a money grab but just with a socially virtuous title. It’s always about the $, and now it’s finally being exposed as such.
What a ridiculous and cowardly position from Hochul, congestion pricing is the law in NY state & implementation has been studied for over a decade. I look forward to the lawsuits dropping on July 1st.
No one is choosing to drive in Manhattan to avoid paying the MTA fare. Do you know what a headache it is to drive in Manhattan and find parking? The people driving their own cars in Manhattan is because they have to for some reason. The only places I drive my car to are places that public transit doesn’t go to.
Before Uber/Lyft, there was a limit on taxi medallions. Now there is no limit on car share so you have way more cars driving around waiting to get a ride request. You want people to take the subways and buses? Put limits on rideshare.
The FDR, West Side Highway, and 66, 79, 86, and 96 cross towns were going to be a disaster with the congestion pricing. They had it starting at 60th street which reduces the 59th cross town and the 59th street exit on the West Side Highway which means everyone would be getting off at 79th instead of split between the two. But 79th is still under construction so it would have been a major disaster.
Also, Manhattan stores and restaurants need delivery trucks to get their goods. Those extra costs would get pushed onto the consumer. There are just so many reasons why this plan wasn’t going to be good for anyone except the people getting rich off MTA corruption.
I have suffered a lot in the past because of our outdated and horrific subway system. I’ve endured a lot of inconvenience and frustration having had to haul 2 toddlers in strollers up and down subway narrow stairs.
Our subway is an embarrassment and has been such for decades which is related to compete mismanagement as literally every NYer knows.
Congestion pricing is not a remedy but a silly bandaid and an excuse.
The city seems to always find money and a lot of it when a politically charged case is involved.
Please don’t tell me it comes from a different bucket, because it does, but how much are we spending on freebies for undocumented migrants and why? Same kind of people from same countries have been coming to the US for decades and same laws such as shelter for all and sanctuary city status have been in place for decades as well. We didn’t exercise those laws till 2 years ago but we do now for whatever reason.
Now we need congestion pricing to help our aging infrastructure? Please.