Community News
‘MAKE NO MISTAKE, THIS WON’T FIX
ALL OUR PROBLEMS’:
MTA releases details on congestion pricing
BY MARK HALLUM
MTA President Patrick
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I APRIL 2019 23
Foye briefed the
press on details
regarding conges-tion
pricing that he
argued would have
benefits beyond better mass transit.
Foye, whose appointment was for-mally
announced on April 1, did not have
details on pricing or specific points of
tolling, but offered a clearer image of
how drivers will pay to access Manhattan
below 60th Street known as the Central
Business District.
“Central Business District tolling
is a transformative initiative that will
support critical investments in our
transit system, reduce pollution and
emissions while improving air qual-ity,”
Foye said. “Make no mistake,
this won’t fix all our problems. We
still have a rapidly aging system and
growing structural deficit on the op-erating
side. We still have to reduce
our costs, increase our efficiency and
reform the MTA.”
According to Foye, people making
$60,000 per year or less will be less
impacted through a refundable credit,
and use of the highways in Manhattan
will be exempt from the toll. This means
motorists heading uptown will be able
to avoid the cost.
Tolling will start no earlier than Jan.
1, 2020, Foye said, once members of
the Traffic Mobility Review Board pieces
together recommendations for the full
implementation.
While congestion pricing is expected
to raise $15 billion for the next five-year
capital plan to start in 2020, Foye said
$7 billion from the federal government
and revenue from other taxes will bring
the MTA $32 billion total.
The next capital plan is to be an-nounced
in October and that leaves
the agency just short of New York City
Transit President Andy Byford’s $40
billion Fast Forward plan.
“To be at the $32 billion level is frankly
an extraordinary achievement. It’s really
almost hard to overstate the importance of
what happened in Albany early this morn-ing,”
Foye said. “Getting congestion pricing
after fits and starts and frankly years, over
a decade of failure is an incredible achieve-ment
by the governor and Legislature.”
Then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg first
attempted to implement congestion
pricing in 2009, but the plan was shot
down in Albany.
Many of the outer borough elected
officials still hold opposition claiming
congestion pricing would only cripple
commerce and close off residents of
Queens from services and amenities
only available in Manhattan.
But Lior Rachmany, the CEO of
Dumbo Moving, took a counter-intuitive
stance in favor of congestion pricing
claiming it would open up streets, al-lowing
for better logistical management,
fewer tickets and less time spent at
meters.
“If passed, we think this will lessen
the accidents our drivers, and others,
get in and the tickets that they receive.
This will also allow us to complete our
jobs faster and allow us to plan and
map out the logistics of each move
more efficiently,” Rachmany told QNS.
“Most non-New Yorkers are unaware
of the actual traffic experience in the
city, as NYC is a unique metropolitan
area and not as restricted as European
cities – the taxi and rideshare services
are essentially unlimited here. We have
the oldest subway system in the world
and will reap incredible benefits from
its renovation.”
Mark Hallum
/www.qns.com
/www.qns.com
