Earlier this month, Gov. Kathy Hochul re-launched the congestion-pricing program, requiring operators of regular passenger vehicles traveling south of 60th Street in Manhattan to pay a one-day $9 charge. This marked a 40 percent drop from the initial cost of $15 before the plan was paused in June, after state officials voiced concerns over the financial burden the initiative would impose on commuters.
On Nov. 18, the MTA board approved the revised plan, which is set to take effect on Jan. 5.
When the revised plan was given the go-ahead, supervisors and elected officials from across the county held a news conference at Sand Hill Road Park in Wantagh, condemning the rehashed proposal. Attendees of the event included Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino, Town of Hempstead Supervisor Don Clavin, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico and Congressman Anthony D’Esposito.
Saladino said addressing traffic congestion and environmental sustainability are goals that he supports but called congestion pricing “an unfair burden on the hard-working residents, commuters and small businesses.”
“Countless New Yorkers who live outside Manhattan see driving into the city not as a luxury, but as a necessity,” Saladino said. “Many rely on these roads to get to their essential jobs, medical appointments and educational opportunities.”
The Town of Hempstead has filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the state of New York, opposing the revised congestion-pricing plan in Manhattan. Clavin said the lawsuit, filed in the Nassau County Supreme Court on Nov. 21, states that Gov. Hochul and the MTA “circumvented procedural requirements that enable residents to speak and be heard,” referring to the legally required 45-day comment period.
The suit comes after several town supervisors and state senators throughout Long Island voiced their objection over the initiative.
According to Town of Hempstead attorney Josh Liebman, the revised tolling program is an entirely new law that should be subjected to a renewed public comment period.
“When a governmental body makes a rule, the public has a specific right to comment on it and to give any objections they have,” Liebman said. “What happened here was a complete rush-job. It’s a new law, and it was done without any kind of public participation whatsoever.”
Gordon Tepper, spokesman for Gov. Hochul, said the state cannot comment on pending litigation, but noted that opponents of the tolling initiative have “failed to offer any of their own meaningful solutions” for reducing gridlock, improving emergency vehicle response times and strengthening the city’s transit system.
During a news conference at the Bethpage Train Station on Nov. 19, Republican state senators, including Jack Martins, Steve Rhoads and Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, joined Steamfitters Union Local 638, the New York Farmers Bureau and community members to call on Gov. Hochul to reconsider her support for the congestion-pricing plan. They urged the legislature and federal partners to repeal the initiative, citing its potential to burden labor and agriculture industries and impose hidden taxes on already struggling families and businesses.
“Congestion pricing is nothing less than a commuter tax on our over-taxed, hardworking Long Island families,” Martins said. “No amount of spinning by Gov. Hochul can change the fact that we’ve been lied to, nor somehow change a tax into a savings. It’s a tax and this tax hurts our families and businesses and makes it harder for New Yorkers to make ends meet. Our Long Island communities deserve better.”
Clavin called the tolling initiative “an ill-conceived idea that is nothing more than a money grab,” adding that it would be costly to Long Island commuters traveling to the city.
“This is going to have an effect south of 60th Street to the men and women who teach our kids, the men and women who protect our students, who protect the workforce down there,” Clavin said. “This is going to have an effect on people who are seeking medical treatment.”
Clavin, along with D’Esposito, said they wrote to president-elect Donald Trump, urging him to eliminate Hochul’s plan when he returns to the White House in January.
D’Esposito said the MTA has lost millions over the last year from people riding buses and subways without paying. According to the MTA, fare evasion cost the agency nearly $700 million in 2022.
“This is not a group that knows how to manage money,” D’Esposito said of the MTA, “and instead of tightening the reins, instead of finding new leadership, what do they do? They dig into the pockets of the people of New York and New Jersey.”
According to the MTA, congestion pricing would improve quality of life by reducing traffic and improving air quality in the city. In addition, the program is expected to bring in “billions of dollars in funding,” which the MTA stated could improve subways, buses and commuter railroads, on top of supporting around 23,000 jobs throughout the state.
Additional reporting by Juan Lasso
