The MTA Board voted Wednesday to formally shelve plans to implement congestion pricing, agreeing to a request from Gov. Kathy Hawkle, but the move would create a funding shortfall currently estimated at $16.5 billion.
Despite urging from project supporters for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to move forward with the Central Business District Toll program, MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said the agency has little choice but to comply with Governor Hockle’s order to indefinitely suspend the nation’s first-of-its-kind congestion pricing plan, even if it means postponing some system expansion projects and focusing instead on basic maintenance work needed to keep the system running.
“We live in the real world,” Lieber told reporters after the MTA’s monthly board meeting. “We’re not plotting a coup against the state of New York.”
Governor Hoffl, who has supported congestion pricing for years, ordered the suspension of the program earlier this month, three weeks before it was set to go into effect., Citing affordability concerns. IIn a statement Wednesday, Haukle reiterated his commitment to working with the MTA to “further develop a comprehensive approach to funding” capital needs.
What you need to know
- MTA board meeting WednesdayThe city approved a measure to indefinitely halt congestion pricing at the direction of Gov. Kathy Hockle, who previously supported the measure but said New Yorkers cannot currently afford the new tolls.
- Postponement is costly Officials said the MTA has $16.5 billion in its capital budget, which includes bonds that would have been paid for with toll revenue, federal funds for projects and $500 million spent on unused toll infrastructure.
- The MTA is postponing some planned projects To address funding shortfalls. Few of these involve the Long Island Railroad.
“While the timing of the next budget may necessitate temporary adjustments to the timeline of certain contracts, New Yorkers should not need to worry that planned projects will not be delivered,” Haukle said.
Despite Mr. Hoekl’s assurances, MTA officials painted a dire picture of capital finances at a meeting in Manhattan. Transportation advocates came out in large numbers to voice their support for congestion pricing and to express anger at Hokul for abandoning the plan, at least temporarily.
“I expected there would be a pretty strong backlash against this terrible mistake, but it’s been much stronger than I expected,” Pete Sikora, a senior adviser to New York Communities for Change, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that works on social and economic issues, said at a rally outside MTA headquarters before the meeting. “People are really upset with the governor.”
The MTA’s Central Business District Toll Program, debated for decades and adopted as state law in 2019, would have imposed a $15 toll on most vehicles traveling below 60th Street in Manhattan during peak hours. The policy was intended to reduce traffic in Manhattan, improve air quality, and generate $1 billion in toll revenue annually for MTA infrastructure.
The MTA had planned to use the money for $15 billion in projects. The agency stands to lose another $1 billion with the loss of federal funding and $500 million in toll infrastructure costs that it can’t recoup without toll revenue.
The vote was the same as when the commission set the proposed tolls in December and approved the congestion fee in March, with only one “no” vote from Nassau Representative David Mack, a vocal opponent of congestion pricing. Mack voted against the latest proposal because it cemented the commission’s commitment to move forward with implementing congestion pricing at a later date.
“I want to see the MTA grow and everyone be happy, but there are a lot of other ways to make that happen,” Mack said before the vote. “We just have to find them.”
Sammy Chu, a Lindenhurst trustee appointed by Hoekl, expressed disappointment at the collapse of what he called “the most significant behavior modification initiative in a generation.”
Chu acknowledged concerns about rising prices raised by opponents, but said many of them were “solvable.”
“We’re not going to be able to move these policies forward unless we have the courage to understand that the changes we want won’t come without discomfort,” Chu said.
The proposal submitted to the MTA board asks members to vote to “approve” the governor’s ordered suspension and delay the new implementation date of congestion pricing “pending the execution of any necessary final agreements” by the project’s sponsors, including the state Department of Transportation, which operates under Governor Hawke’s direction.
With $28.5 billion in planned projects and only $12 billion in remaining funding, the MTA will prioritize “basic state of good repair” efforts, projects that may involve federal funding, and train purchases, including additional LIRR cars to meet the demand for additional service added with the opening of Grand Central-Madison.
The cuts planned for the LIRR are much smaller than those planned for other MTA agencies, including New York City Transit’s bus and subway systems. Lieber said “there will be fewer cuts” on Long Island because most of the LIRR projects in the current capital plan are already funded or completed, including accessibility projects at several stations on the Babylon Line.
The only LIRR-specific projects included on the congestion charge-related damages list were the “potential cancellation” of plans to renovate Hollis and Forest Hills stations and the purchase of “passenger and work locomotives.” MTA officials later said planned work at the LIRR’s Harold Interlocking in Queens, related to a new connection to Grand Central-Madison, was also on hold.
At risk of being canceled are system expansion projects, including the Second Avenue Subway; the MTA will reallocate $3 billion in funding earmarked for the project and “sacrifice” $2 billion in federal aid. Subway signal modernization projects, planned improvements to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the purchase of electric city buses, and various other infrastructure and technology upgrades are also on hold.
Lieber said the MTA would “work with everyone, including Hoffle, to find new funding and “preserve and reinstate” congestion pricing, including keeping the toll infrastructure “operational and ready for when the moratorium actually is lifted.”
Rachel Faust, senior policy adviser at Reinvent Albany, a nonprofit government accountability group, expressed skepticism about Hoeckle’s promise to get the MTA the funding it needs, saying the group estimates that suspending congestion pricing could put 100,000 New York jobs at risk.
“This is in stark contradiction to the governor’s statement that the reason for his decision was affordability,” Faus said. “The economic impacts are significant, and we believe there are no other viable options.”