NYC imposes congestion tolls on cars to pay for transit upgrades

Posted on January 17, 2025 by TTH admin

Also see this Politico article that shows near universal opposition to the plan by Trump, unions, and bipartisan members of congress here.

Trump Tower is in the congestion zone. Trump vows to fight it here.

Link to article here.

Nation’s first congestion toll now active in Manhattan

ABC Eyewitness News
January 6, 2025

Watch the story here.

MANHATTAN, New York City (WABC) — For many New Yorkers, Monday was the first day back to work following the holiday break, and for a swath of commuters, it was also the first time they paid the new congestion pricing toll to enter Manhattan below 60th Street.

On Monday, Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed to closely study congestion pricing data, and make changes to the program, if needed.

“I am committed and the MTA is committed to intensely monitoring the trends, and if adjustments are necessary, to be willing to make those going forward,” she said.

“Traffic is down today,” but Hochul noted it is also snowing. “Today is the first day. I wouldn’t count today, let’s give it a few days to sink in and get a trend.”

WATCH | NJ drivers discuss impact of congestion pricing on commute

Anthony Johnson has more on the impact of congestion pricing on New Jersey drivers entering Manhattan.

New York City’s new congestion pricing toll began on Sunday, meaning many people will pay $9 to access the busiest part of the Big Apple during peak hours.

The toll is meant to reduce traffic gridlock in the densely packed city while raising money to help fix its ailing public transit infrastructure.

New Jersey’s request for a temporary restraining order was denied by a federal judge on Friday. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s office plans to appeal the ruling.

Congestion pricing was designed to raise money for the MTA’s capital plan, while reducing traffic in Midtown, by tolling drivers in Manhattan south of 60th Street.

N.J. Burkett has the latest with MTA CEO Janno Lieber.

Here’s the breakdown of how congestion pricing works:

Time of day
The peak period toll rate will apply from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. The overnight toll rates will be 75% less than the respective rates in the standard peak period for all drivers entering the Congestion Relief Zone.

Type of vehicle

Passenger and small commercial vehicles, and motorcycles (see passenger reaction here)

The toll for passenger and small commercial vehicles (sedans, SUVs, pick-up trucks, and small vans) paying with a valid E-ZPass will be $9 during the peak period and $2.25 during the overnight period, when there is less congestion. The toll for motorcycles will be $4.50 during the peak period and $1.05 during the overnight period. These vehicles will be charged only once per day.

Michelle Charlesworth has more on reaction from drivers on the first weekday of congestion pricing tolling.

Trucks and buses

Small trucks (single-unit trucks) and some buses will pay a toll of $14.40 during the peak period and $3.60 during the overnight period. Large trucks (multi-unit trucks) and tour buses will pay a toll of $21.60 during the peak period and $5.40 during the overnight period.

Eligible trucks and buses are exempt from the Congestion Relief Zone toll.

Taxis and for-hire vehicles

Instead of paying the daily toll, taxis and for-hire vehicles licensed with the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission will be eligible for a smaller per-trip charge paid by the passenger for each trip to, from, within, or through the Congestion Relief Zone.

For both the peak and overnight periods, the per-trip charge for high-volume for-hire vehicles will be $1.50. For taxis, green cabs, and black cars, the per-trip charge will be $0.75.

Crossing credits

A credit will reduce Congestion Relief Zone tolls for vehicles using a valid E-ZPass and entering during the peak period via one of the four tolled entries: Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Queens-Midtown Tunnel, and Hugh L. Carey Tunnel. The credit amount will be up to $3 for passenger vehicles, up to $1.50 for motorcycles, up to $7.20 for small trucks and charter buses, and up to $12 for large trucks and tour buses. No crossing credits will be offered overnight when the toll will be reduced by 75% from the peak period toll.

Discounts and exemptions

Discount and exemption plans are available for the Congestion Relief Zone. A discount plan is available for low-income drivers, and exemption plans are available for individuals with disabilities or organizations transporting people with disabilities, emergency vehicles, buses, and specialized government-owned vehicles.

E-ZPass and Tolls by Mail

Customers will be able to use their E-ZPass tags to pay the Congestion Relief Zone toll as they do today to pay tolls on other roads, bridges, and tunnels. Those without an E-ZPass tag will receive a Tolls by Mail bill to the registered owner of the vehicle. Tolls by Mail bills are more expensive and less convenient to pay.

More details about the plan, exemptions, and discounts are available on the MTA website.

What else to know about congestion pricing

The MTA is phasing in the toll structure over a six-year period with an initial $9 peak toll for cars. The toll will increase to $12 in 2028 and then $15 in 2031.

Hochul could not set the base toll lower than $9 without triggering a new federal environmental review that could allow the incoming Trump administration to block it.

President-elect Donald Trump has openly and vehemently opposed congestion pricing, saying last May he would terminate the governor’s plan in his first week of office. However, it would become much more complicated for Trump to do that if the governor starts her plan before he is inaugurated in January.

In November, Trump, whose namesake Trump Tower is in the toll zone, said congestion pricing “will put New York City at a disadvantage over competing cities and states, and businesses will flee.”

The new toll is expected to reduce the number of cars in the city by 80,000 and collect billions of dollars for much-needed transit improvements.

WATCH: Rep. Nicole Malliotakis talks challenges of congestion pricing

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY 11th District) shares thoughts on congestion pricing.

Some were concerned that congestion pricing could impact response times for agencies like the FDNY, but on Monday, but Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker said it was “business as usual” in the FDNY and “there is no issue with response times because of congestion pricing.”

He said he is “concerned about what impact this will have and I’m not negating the fact that there may be an impact.”

Officials are hoping to convince more commuters to take public transit, but it comes at a time when some high-profile crime has been reported underground.

See more commuter reaction here.

Kemberly Richardson is live in Penn Station with more on commuter reaction to congestion pricing.

Over the past two weeks, a man lit a woman on fire. In another case, a rider was pushed onto the subway tracks.

Eyewitness News found murders have doubled from 5 in 2023 to 10 last year leading to a 100 percent increase. Most other crimes have gone down during the same time period. Grand larceny, robbery, and burglary are down by double digits.

Hochul says new transit cameras on every train and National Guard patrols have helped. Meanwhile, the governor announced on Friday new legislation that would make it easier for hospitals to commit patients with severe mental illness and for courts to order outpatient treatment.

On Monday, the NYPD announced 200 more officers are moving into the subway system to conduct train patrols

Congestion pricing has survived several lawsuits seeking to block the program, including a last-ditch effort from the state of New Jersey to have a judge put up a temporary roadblock against it. A spokesperson for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Natalie Hamilton, said in an email Saturday, that they would” continue fighting against this unfair and unpopular scheme.”

—
Some information from the Associated Press

NYC congestion tolling unleashes congestion nightmare

Posted on January 17, 2025 by TTH admin

Link to article here.

Congestion toll chaos will push commuters to ditch their cars in northern Manhattan, outer boroughs: ‘New park-and-ride’

By Georgia Worrell, Rich Calder
NY Post
January 5, 2025

The invasion of the Bridge and Tunnel crowd won’t just be on weekends anymore.

Commuters to the Big Apple will be turning neighborhoods across the city into their own personal parking lots beginning this week, ditching their rides to save their wallets because of the $9 congestion pricing plan, concerned residents told The Post.

The plan is expected to upend neighborhoods closest to the 60th Street tolling zone with nightmarish gridlock as a surge of drivers begin scouring for free parking spots.

Neighborhoods closest to the 60th Street tolling zone are expected to be upended with nightmarish gridlock. NY Post

“Parking is already very much an issue. We have nine hospitals in our district, and many of them are north of 60th Street,” said Upper East Sider Valerie Mason, a member of New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax, a group suing to stop the scheme.

Hospital workers and visitors already eat up the majority of the nabe’s street parking, she added.

“We’re also very concerned that [the toll] will cause a huge amount of traffic and more cars trying to park north of the [59th Street Bridge],” Mason said.

The Upper West Side and Harlem are also expected to get slammed — a problem when parking spaces are already a precious commodity.

Cars exit the Lincoln Tunnel underneath the new congestion toll scanners on Jan. 5, 2025. William Miller

“We’re also very concerned that [the toll] will cause a huge amount of traffic and more cars trying to park north of the [59th Street Bridge],” said Upper East Sider Valerie Mason. Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock

East Harlem is already plagued by congestion from out-of-town traffic taking up parking spots before heading south in the borough — because it’s faster than using the FDR Drive, said Xavier Santiago, chairman of Manhattan Community Board 11. He predicted the parking crisis “will continue to escalate” with congestion pricing.

The outer boroughs are also panicking.

Follow along with The Post’s coverage of Manhattan’s new congestion pricing

New York became the most expensive city to drive in when its congestion pricing began Sunday. New Yorkers now must pay $9 to drive below 60th Street during peak hours.
Some drivers have begun concealing their plates in an effort to avoid the toll. Some residents of the area are saddled with the cost whenever they want to take their car out.

Neighborhoods closest to the 60th Street tolling zone are expected to be upended with nightmarish gridlock. NY Post

Businesses, like funeral homes, have begun shifting the cost to customers. Rideshare app Lyft raised its CitiBike prices for New Yorkers hoping to avoid taking a car. The FDNY union and EMT union claim that congestion pricing will slow down their response times, as well.
Many New Yorkers are skeptical about congestion pricing’s effects, especially after multiple publicized crimes on the subway in recent weeks. Drivers are expected to dump their cars above the zone, making parking more difficult uptown.

Communities such as Long Island City in Queens, the South Bronx, and ritzy Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Park Slope in Brooklyn are fearing their quality of life will be uprooted — not only by their own drivers but also those schlepping to the Big Apple from New Jersey, upstate New York, Long Island and Staten Island.

“My constituents who still have no real public transit connection to Manhattan are looking forward to treating the posh, transit-rich, gentrified, brownstone Brooklyn as their new park-and-ride,” quipped NYC Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island). Brigitte Stelzer

New congestion toll signage hangs outside the Lincoln Tunnel at West 41st Street near 9th Avenue on Jan. 5, 2025. William Miller

Borelli and other critics of the plan claim it will bring more air and noise pollution to the outer boroughs — including parts of the Bronx and Staten Island — as drivers look to avoid the toll.

Genevieve Giuliano, a professor specializing in urban transportation at USC’s Price School of Public Policy, expects motorists to spend the next few months “experimenting” with new routes to decide whether they’re better off paying the tolls, relying on mass transit or chasing free parking.

“Can you imagine doing” a drive-to-subway commute “every day?” said Giuliano. “Because some days the parking spots might be there; other days they might not.”

“They’re creating less congestion in Manhattan [with the tolls] and more congestion everywhere else,” said Jim Walden, a white-collar running for mayor. AP

Ultimately, many commuters want to spend as little time as possible on NYC’s crime-ridden subway system — warned Jim Walden, a lawyer running for mayor — so expect them to relentlessly drive around the outer boroughs looking for prized parking spots.

“My friends on the far left really don’t care about the outer boroughs,” said Walden, a moderate independent. “They’re creating less congestion in Manhattan [with the tolls] and more congestion everywhere else.”

Kathryn Freed, a retired state Supreme Court justice and former Lower East Side councilwoman, is expecting the worst.

“People are going to do whatever they can to avoid [the toll],” Freed said.

“People are going to do whatever they can to avoid [the toll],” warned Kathryn Freed, a retired state Supreme Court judge and former Lower East Side councilwoman. Robert Miller

And that means a toll camera on 1st Avenue between East 60 and 61st streets could bring traffic chaos. Motorists getting off the Queensboro Bridge planning to head north will be hit with a charge if they take the lower level to 1st Avenue.

But the upper exit to East 62nd Street will bypass the charge — creating a potential choke point as drivers try to avoid the toll.

The Empire State Building lights up behind a newly installed “Congestion Relief Zone” sign on Jan. 3, 2025. Christopher Sadowski

Meanwhile, online entrepreneurs have long been hawking license-plate covers for motorists trying to dodge toll machines and traffic cameras, but the state-run MTA has warned it plans to crack down harder on rogue riders once congestion pricing is in effect.

There is at least one cheat code available.

Video shared on social media in April exposed a potential hack to beat a toll camera on West End Avenue by driving the wrong way through a one-way, one-lane parking garage on the toll-zone border — with an entrance on 60th Street and an exit on 61st Street.

Online entrepreneurs have long been hawking license-plate covers for motorists trying to dodge all toll machines and other traffic cameras. John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock

A manager at the Sessanta Garage, who identified himself as Sergio, told The Post the business “is aware of the issue” and plans to eventually install barricades to avoid “head-on collisions” involving toll evaders.

“We’ve just been waiting to see if this congestion pricing really goes into effect or not,” he said last week.

The MTA declined to comment.

California local governments push congestion tax to get into LA

Posted on April 4, 2019 by TTH admin

Link to article here.California Cities Push Congestion Tax
Southern California governments lobby to impose congestion tax on Los Angeles motorists.
The Newspaper.com
April 4, 2019A group of California counties and cities is desperate to join European colleagues in imposing a congestion tax on commuters. The Southern California Association of Governments issued a federally funded report last week exploring the feasibility of tolling drivers who enter downtown Los Angeles, raising money for transit and bicycle lanes.The study looked at various LA neighborhoods to determine where gridlock could best be exploited to raise funds. The options included Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Hollywood, the downtown area, the San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica and Westside. The researchers said the tax would increase the number of people using bicycles by nine percent and walking by seven percent. According to the report, Angelenos will enjoy paying the charge because of these benefits.

“The Mobility Go Zone Program is expected to improve mobility and the transportation-user experience,” the report explained. “In practice, this means people will enjoy travel time savings to get to their respective work, leisure, school or other destinations.”

The introductory rate for the charge would be $4, paid by vehicles entering the charging zone during peak periods. Automated license plate reader (ANPR or ALPR) cameras would track cars and bill drivers who lack a FasTrak toll transponder. Comparable European cities have a congestion tax rate of about $15 per trip.

Over a decade, the operational costs of paying third-party vendors to collect the toll would run $326 million, including $15 million for the cost of toll collection equipment. The tax itself would collect from motorists between $87 million and $135 million per year for a net profit of $69 million per year.

The report concluded that the congestion tax would increase carpooling by 51 percent and reduce automobile miles traveled by 20 percent, reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Such a tax would could be a tough sell to the public in Los Angeles. As the 1980s band Missing Persons put it, “Only a nobody walks in LA.” When the question was put to residents in Manchester, England, in 2008, some 79 percent voted against the idea of a congestion tax.

The idea of congestion charging was popularized in the UK in 2003 when London’s mayor at the time, Ken Livingstone, imposed the tax. In 2008, Livingstone was defeated by six points by Boris Johnson who campaigned on scaling back the charging zone.

Transport for London data show that the congestion charge has failed in its stated goal of controlling traffic levels downtown. Documented journey times inside the charging zone in 2007 were the same as in 2002, before the tax was collected, according to a 2008 report. An independent study found no reduction in pollution within zone. Currently, about half of the $360 million paid in tolls annually goes to the overhead cost, leaving $178 million in profit — most of which comes from late payment penalty tickets.

A copy of the report is available in a 5mb PDF file at the source link below.

Source: Mobility Go Zone Pricing Feasibility Study (Southern California Association of Governments, 3/31/2019)

OUTRAGEOUS: MoPac tolls top $8 to use toll lanes in rush hour

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Terri Hall

Tolls top $8 for commute on newly opened MoPac toll lanes

It didn’t take long for toll rates to exceed affordability. The newly opened toll managed lanes on MoPac (from Lady Bird Lake to Parmer Lane) in Austin topped $8 to go 11 miles, and cost $6.28 to drive the northern 6 miles during the evening commute. That’s just in the first week of operation. If you think that’s insane, that’s because it is. No one should have to pay over $1 a mile to get to or from work in a reasonable time. Texans pay a litany of road taxes, primarily the gasoline tax, to pay for public highways. Twice in as many years, Texas voters gave the largest boost in road funding to the state highway fund — totaling nearly $5 billion more per year. Yet supercharged toll roads continue to come online virtually unabated.

Toll managed lanes like those on MoPac use congestion pricing. The toll you pay no longer relates to the actual cost of building the road you’re driving on. Now tolls vary based on the level of congestion, rising and falling continually throughout peak hours, potentially changing in 5-minute intervals. Toll roads often provide time reliability, but today’s congestion tolling means you don’t have price reliability. A study done in 2016 by the Texas Transportation Institute at A&M, found that congestion tolling both angers and confuses the public. It states one of the biggest challenges is public acceptance.

According to the study, the top three reasons the public dislikes congestion tolling are: opposition to paying more to travel on top of what the public is already paying for roads, the complex requirements for using the lanes that change based on region, time of day, number of people in the car, and price, and the tax burden on lower income drivers without good non-toll options.

To add to the outrage, the MoPac toll project was fully paid for by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) with $200 million in gasoline taxes. No debt was owed to build it. When the public balked at the double tax scheme of making drivers pay a toll to use a road their taxes paid for, officials turned it into a loan to be paid to the local transportation policy board who will use it to build other roads MoPac drivers may never use.

Taxpayers also ended up paying $38 million more for the project than estimated, and it was over two years behind schedule in opening, with the prolonged construction negatively impacting businesses and commuters alike. Because of the legal troubles of dealing with the design-build contractor, CH2M, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) will issue debt to pay-off the contractor to make potential litigation disputing various change orders and additional work go away.

Even with the $38 million in additional costs and the agency having to issue some debt to finish paying the contractor, the $20 million in debt issued is a drop in the bucket and no excuse to charge Austinites tolls in perpetuity to use lanes their taxes already paid for. The debt is due to the project’s gross mismanagement by a rookie agency, the CTRMA, that lacks the accountability and depth of project management experience of TxDOT (that our taxes already pay to operate). So Texans are paying taxes upon taxes to build and maintain public highways thanks to this duplicative, wasteful, mismanaged bureaucracy running the show.

Given that the CTRMA’s Executive Director who oversees a dozen employees makes $366,112 a year compared to the $299,812 salary of TxDOT’s Executive Director, who oversees 11,000 employees, you get a glimpse at the Texas-sized toll bureaucracy problem. State lawmakers have long excused digging into the financial waste and mismanagement at TxDOT because the state lacks the funds and resources to audit an agency that big. How will adding nine more of these mini-TxDOT’s known as Regional Mobility Authorities solve the problem? It exploded the waste ninefold.

Taxpayers will continue to face a logjam of ill-conceived toll projects just like MoPac all over the state despite Governor Greg Abbott’s campaign promise to fix Texas without more taxes, fees, tolls, or debt. Why? As long as local transportation boards known as Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) continue to push for toll slush funds to fund a host of local pet projects, the governor’s highway commission has shown little appetite for bucking them. Voters need to get engaged or risk being priced off their public roadways altogether. If congestion tolls are starting out at over $1/mile in peak hours, imagine what they’ll be next year or in 10 years. There is no legal requirement to remove tolls from these highways, even when there’s no debt owed. Expect Texas commuters to do a full court press to change that when the legislature reconvenes in 2019.