The MTA Board of Directors voted Wednesday to approve proposed congestion pricing for vehicles entering Manhattan’s 60th Street and below, putting the agency on track to begin collecting tolls late next spring.
The MTA’s advisory committee, called the Transportation Mobility Review Board, recommended the fare structure last week, and the MTA Board of Governors voted 9-1 in favor of those recommendations.Rep. David Mack, who represents Nassau County, was the only person to vote against the bill.. The toll imposes a $15 fee on vehicles entering the zone between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends. The vote paves the way for a 60-day public comment period, followed by a final vote by his MTA board to begin the program.
“This is essential to the future of our city,” MTA Chair Jano Lieber said after the vote. “I told the MTA team when I started here that we were going to do something difficult.” Told.
The vote represented a breakthrough in congestion pricing, which New York City officials have proposed in one form or another for more than 50 years. Former Mayor John Lindsay proposed adding tolls on the East River bridge in 1970. And former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to add $8 to Manhattan’s congestion toll sunk in 2008 when then-Council Speaker Sheldon Silver killed it in Albany.
The stakes are high for this program. Congestion pricing has been successfully introduced in other countries. But the MTA’s program is the first in the country to impose tolls to ease traffic congestion.
The fee structure includes several exemptions. The MTA says the additional exemptions will increase the cost of base fares. The program is required by law to generate $1 billion annually.
Drivers earning less than $50,000 a year will no longer have to pay for the first 10 trips they enter the zone each month. Emergency vehicles, vehicles transporting people with disabilities, and drivers who live in congested areas and earn less than $60,000 a year are exempt. Drivers who continue on West Side Highway or FDR Drive can also avoid the toll.
The board approved giving a $5 credit to passenger vehicle drivers who already pay to use the Lincoln, Holland, Queens-Midtown and Brooklyn-Battery tunnels.
The toll for light trucks, buses and vans during these hours is $24, while large trucks, including big rigs, will have to pay $36. Motorcycle tolls are $7.50 during the day.
According to MTA board documents, there will be only one toll per day for cars and motorcycles.
There is a $1.25 surcharge for taxi rides outside the zone, and a $2.50 surcharge for app-based rental car trips. Both fees will be passed on to riders.
The MTA Board also approved a 75% discount for drivers entering the zone at night. A driver who does not use E-ZPass will pay 50% more than a driver who does not use this technology.
The board will authorize the MTA to increase fares by 25% during the General Assembly and holiday season during annual “Congestion Alert Days” when the Manhattan Metropolitan Transportation Authority warns people not to drive in Manhattan. It was decided that.
Despite the near-unanimous vote, several board members expressed concerns about the fee structure at Wednesday’s meeting. They include board members appointed by Mayor Eric Adams, who last week asked for fee waivers for school buses, yellow cabs and vehicles used to transport medical appointments. .
Midori Valdivia, a board member appointed by Adams, argued before the vote that yellow cab drivers have suffered for the past 10 years, saying they provide an essential service to the city. Ta.
“There is a lawsuit that seeks a very narrow exemption for taxis, and I think the board should consider that,” Valdivia said.
Jamie Torres Springer, the MTA’s chairman of construction and development, said years of delays in setting congestion pricing (which the state Legislature first approved in 2019) have already forced the agency to make significant improvements to the city’s transportation network. He said that it would be necessary to postpone some of the projects (such as the installation of additional networks). A modern signaling system on the A and C subway lines. The tolls are required by law to support $15 billion worth of loans, which account for nearly one-third of the MTA’s 2020-2024 construction plan.
“We are working on strategies that can alleviate delays on other projects,” Torres Springer told the MTA board. He warned that two federal lawsuits filed by New Jersey lawmakers could further delay implementation of congestion pricing.
Mack, who was the only City Council member to vote against the toll, justified his decision by saying, “I don’t want to hurt lower Manhattan.”
“I just care about my fellow Americans,” Mack added.
John Banks, a member of the Transportation Mobility Review Committee that helped develop the toll recommendations, said he was not surprised by the concerns raised at Wednesday’s meeting.
“If everyone’s mad at you, you’ve done your job,” Banks said.