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The knives are out for New York’s congestion pricing plan, and loads of motorists want a carveout.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is moving ahead with the scheme, which aims to toll motorists who drive in Manhattan south of 60th St., not including the West Side Highway and FDR Drive.
Taxi drivers held a protest in Manhattan on Wednesday pushing for exemptions to the tolls, which could cost anywhere from $9 to $23 during the day for most cars.
A group including Uber and Lyft on Thursday sent a letter to Gov. Hochul asking that for-hire vehicles get a break. And trucking industry lobbyists have also called for discounts to the tolls, which could range from $12 to $82 per crossing for the largest carriers.
Another public pushback against the plan came Thursday evening as droves of drivers jammed an online MTA hearing to rail against the planned tolls. The hearing — held over Zoom — drew 391 attendees, each of whom were given three minutes to speak.
“If you guys tell me that’s $23 every day I need to take my car out of my driveway, that is outrageous,” testified Colette Vogell, who lives on Manhattan’s East Side, within the congestion zone. “People like me are going to move out of Manhattan.”
Exemptions are already planned for emergency vehicles, those transporting people with disabilities, and residents of the congestion zone who earn $60,000 or less annually.
But MTA officials have warned that exemptions for some motorists could lead to higher toll prices for everyone else.
The plan is required by a state law passed in 2019 to raise $1 billion a year for the MTA, enough for the agency to finance $15 billion worth of upgrades to the agency’s dilapidated transit infrastructure.
Thursday’s hearing was the first of six the MTA is to hold on the program over the next week. The hearings come after the agency released a draft environmental assessment on the scheme, a key step to gain federal approval before the tolls can launch, which isn’t expected to happen until 2024.
Other opponents of the program are less concerned about exemptions, and want congestion pricing to be delayed or nixed altogether.
Passengers United has a poll you can take to stop the congestion tax.
27 comments:
Yep say goodbye to the super rich who live in Manhattan. They will take their money with them
Maybe Happy Hochul will come to the rescue again.
Death of a city, tax paying businesses and residents leaving in droves, wall street and the theaters will soon wake up when their attendance shrinks, the sole safe way to travel in midtown at night will be gone along with the travelers and tourists to follow. The Pols pushing this dont ride subways w/o bodyguards and get a city issued car on your dime.
Here we go again. This has nothing to do quality of life improvements. These greedy social engineers in City Hall need another cash cow. I mean now they have 40,000 new illegal mouths to feed.
The MTA (Money Taking Agency) gets billions in aid and zero accountability. Surcharges on cab rides, taxes-all go towards propping this corrupt organization up. Decades of cost overruns on capital projects, suspicious accounting, bloated management, yet somehow we have arrived at this point. The OMNY fare system is millions of dollars over budget and behind schedule-with an ever growing project cost which is close to 750 million.Even when there was record ridership the subways smelled like kennels and trains never ran on time. Took them 20 years to upgrade signals. Stations still are crumbling. The subways are inhabited by subterranean criminals and escapees from the insane asylum. So now they want to tax those who believe in self preservation by driving.
"Congestion pricing" a.k.a. highway robbery !
So let me get this straight green Greta people....If I pay more money... pollution will go away...right? Thats what you are telling me.
This is nothing but a money grab. Ya really want to solve congestion and pollution?
Make ALL commercial deliveries at night. 8-6am. Congestion...over.
1776 said...
This is a Limousine Liberals wet dream. They can drive the working class out of the city so their SUV mega-limos can get them around Manhattan's streets without the riffraff getting in their way. The super wealthy can claim even more of the city for their own personal use.
This is what all Dem / Socialist do!
Biden cut off gas production to raise prices. People couldn't afford to drive, so less fuel used. Please note that Diesel Fuel is still over 5 dollars per gallon is causing food cost to be prohibitive. Now we have to stop eating. The socialist allowed millions of illegals into the country so you have to feed them. Now Biden is keeping fertilizer prices high so farmers cannot afford it. Less food means you will rely of the Socialist government to support you. Bread lines are next!
Those of you transit advocates TA Commies out there who are in favor of congestion pricing- has it occurred to you that your bus or subway ride will be more crowded and service will be slower? And those of you in the outer boroughs and suburbs who are opposed to congestion pricing- has it occurred to you that businesses will leave NYC for the outer boroughs and suburbs and help the economies in those places?
Is this part of the New Greeen Deal 2030 agenda ?
The green new deal is to tax you out of your cars and homes, wake up Sheeple.
Suggestions: to NJ and CT and PA:
New York is dead. Make your own Broadway. Make your own museums. No need to come to NYC.
Most NYC voters obviously don’t care. They would rather be woke.
The Republican federal law never intended for Congestion Pricing to raise revenue for transit. It was intended to reduce congestion. This can be done by applying congestion pricing 6am-10am and 3pm-8pm. But the same should apply to transit fares, so employers would be forced to stagger hours. The MTA has had off-peak fares many times, so they know how to do it.
So if we banned all cars from Manhattan, from ALL of Manhattan, it might do what? Reduce "carbon emissions" by 0.00003% globally? The whole carbon thing is a gigantic farce to begin with, but even playing by their fraudulent rules, it's totally idiotic.
Working class people don’t drive into the city. Only rich people, morons and trailer park Q-Anon trash from down south.
Great news for NY when this finally gets put in action.
Viva diddleysquat. Bunch of over privileged turds demanding that they have more rights than everyone else just because they own a big chunk of metal in wheels.
"The Republican federal law "
What law would that be?
@"What law would that be? "
The new martial law that will be put in place when the Trupanzees or DeSantis ShinyShits take over.
I see Dr. NPC doofus has migrated from the field of medicine to the study of climatology.
Nah! Its his usual bullshitology.
@Viva diddleysquat. Bunch of over privileged turds demanding that they have more rights than everyone else just because they own a big chunk of metal in wheels.@
Says the privileged communist drone - TA Commie - sponsored by the WEF.
Well done nutjob.
The God lies sayeth ( because the good lord spoketh in Elizabethan English even though he she it was a Bronze Age creation in the Middle East) that we have the freedom to do as we please, as long as we kisserth the good lords ass. And we can enjoy the freedoms of America (even though the good all knowing lord had no clue that America existed) Anybody who doesn’t believe this is a TA satirist commie!
Hallelujah! (Whatever that means)
Nah! Its his usual bullshitology.
you should know, you are a PhD in it.
@The new martial law that will be put in place when the Trupanzees or DeSantis ShinyShits take over.
Seems the Biorobot and his controller are doing it already.
Like forced vaccinations for example.
TA Commie - you suck.
We are in a deep recession right ?
Peeps raising tolls, fees and taxes is not a good idea.
"Peeps raising tolls, fees and taxes is not a good idea."
Is part of the Great Reset. Want to pollute? Pay up buddy.
A big FAT FRAUD. One can pollute as long as pays the fees.
I want TA commie and his pinko comrades to pay for polluting the air with 4G/5G garbage so they can organize riots and steal catalytic converters.
We are getting EMF radiation so this stupid pinko can check his Facebook pages?
Pay up commie. Also using the streets for Revel "terrorist bike" storage needs to be re-examined. Let Schwab pay for this garbage. Placing fire hazards on New York streets is no joke.
Let TA commie pedal to his next Satanist meeting for a change.
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