NNew York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s surprise announcement on June 5 that she had indefinitely postponed the launch of a congestion pricing plan for downtown and midtown Manhattan, a month before the toll began $15 per vehicle, has raised concerns about the future of New York City’s transit infrastructure. New Yorkers counted on the added revenue to support $15 billion in improvements to the aging subway system while reducing congestion and cleaning up the air.
Congestion pricing would solve the problem of how to finance the improvements, which include extending the subway from Second Avenue to East Harlem, elevators to bring the system closer to meeting federal accessibility laws, modernizing the signaling system and energy and hundreds of new buses.
Tolls, to be sure, are an imperfect solution: imposing costs that elected officials outside of Manhattan estimate at $3,600 to $5,000 a year for a typical commuter in the suburbs or surrounding neighborhoods. Any new version of the advanced plan should contain exemptions so that most of the tax is paid by tourists and trucks, with discounts for lower income earners, and there should be no exemptions for government employees.
Governor Hochul’s switch, just 14 months after she proudly supported the plan and touted the expected benefits, is politically transparent. Moderate Democrats in New York City, with a few exceptions, are now echoing their renewed concerns about commuter burdens and the need to allow Manhattan’s business districts more time to recover from alarming vacancy rates of offices Some of the concern is genuine, but the real concern is alienating suburban voters before the next national election.
Ridership has rebounded since the pandemic, though not to pre-pandemic levels, when far more people used public transit each day to get to Manhattan’s central business district (1.3 million) than the 143,000 who arrived by car. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s transit mobility review committee noted that Manhattan’s revitalization depends on improved mass transit, not more car commuters.
Now is a good time to reconsider the state’s governor’s control of the MTA, an issue that became clear under Hochul’s predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, who during his last term ending in 2021 abruptly decided and impetuous that all engineers and contractors in the agency should reduce their prices, including on contracts already in progress. The governor appoints the chair and vice chair of the MTA board, four other board members plus those recommended by the mayor of New York City and surrounding county chief executives. Legislation to limit the governor’s role has been long overdue.
When it comes to improvements to the transportation system, the companies tasked with doing the work now have a much less clear idea of what financial resources they will have to design and build what is needed, and how quickly they will be allocated. But what is clear is that Governor Hochul’s decision to postpone congestion pricing and, consequently, the necessary infrastructure improvements, will inevitably increase project costs.
The sooner the stalled plan is put into effect, the better.
