New York accelerates its plan to cut nine dollars to get to the center by car in fear of Trump | Climate and Environment

Car restrictions in city centres, so common in Europethe appearance of anathema in the United States, much more dependent on the private vehicle. New York, the biggest europe from country towns, has been trying to force a density level (traffic toll) to get to Manhattan – in the style of those that already exist in London, Milan or Stockholm -. Although the project has taken several falls since its inceptionfear of the cut announced in public spending by the Donald Trump Administration in the future has reactivated the tax plan to enter the center of the financial capital. If the outgoing Joe Biden Administration gives his final approval, drivers will have to pay nine dollars (about 8.5 euros) to access the area starting January 5. For comparison, in London you already pay 27 euros.

The new version of the plan, with a reduction in fares, was approved this week by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), hoping to achieve the definitive green light from the outgoing Democratic Administration before power goes to move, on January 20. . The aim of the plan, which was accepted by 12 yes and only one no, is also to raise money to cover the maintenance of busy infrastructure, such as the bypass between New Jersey and Manhattan, and facilities that cry out for renewal, such as those in the suburbs.

As a result of the great result on November 5 –In New York, a traditional Democratic stronghold, Republicans have gained ground in several areas– last Monday, at a hastily rearranged meeting, the MTA board approved the new fee: a nine-dollar daytime fare to enter Manhattan’s main strip – south of 60th Street, south of Central Park – starting next January 5. That is, 40% less than the base price of $15 that the council had confirmed in May. They also agreed to renew the price in 2028 and 2031, until the first amount is reached.

It has been a process in record time, once the governor of the state, Democrat Kathy Hochul raised the finger on the stop button that paralyzed the campaign in June, a month after it was approvedbecause of the high cost of the fares: something very politically neutral on the eve of the presidential elections (and next year’s local elections). The question is whether lowering the tax will generate the $15 billion needed for reforms to the public transport network, which the promoters see as possible. According to Hochul, who says he hasn’t been carried away by the Republican victory, the reduced toll will save daily drivers about $1,500 a year, and there will be discounts for those who make less than $50,000 a year and will earn less. for their work they have to enter the area every day.

The measure is unique in the United States, but which has already been applied in several European cities – although many more have restrictions on the most polluting cars –already approved in December 2023 by the MTA, and ratified in May, a month before the Hochul stop. Technically known as a “congestion tax,” if approved by Washington, it will be applied to a city where its citizens spend an average of 236 hours a year stuck in traffic.

Less than a week after the governor raised her objections, the future of the plan is now in the hands of the Federal Highway Administration, which must give the final approval because many streets in Manhattan, and especially most of its entrances, getting federal. funding, such as the aid approved by the Biden Administration to upgrade the Lincoln Tunnel, which connects Manhattan to the State of New Jersey. “That’s the part that needs some updating and the bureaucratic process after that,” said Janno Lieber, president of the MTA, at a press conference on Monday.

There may be the first hurdle. After state lawmakers first approved congestion pricing in 2019, during Trump’s first term, federal officials refused to provide guidance on what kind of environmental review should be done. In the end, the feds gave permission two months after President Joe Biden was inaugurated in 2021, but the process dragged out with hundreds of environmental impact considerations. The plan was finally approved in June 2023, well after what was planned by the New York authorities.

The president-elect wants to ‘finish’ the project

“We have no emergency plans. We hope that it will be approved before the deadline and implemented, as planned, on January 5,” explained an optimistic Lieber. If it is achieved, it will be the result of an understanding against the clock, almost a conspiracy not only against time, but against the political enemy, the federal Administration that is going to- mach and the State of New York, of the same sign.

Trump threatened on social media in May to “end” congestion pricing during his first week in the White House. Hence the urgency of the MTA until the toll plan, which would depend on a long-term federal program and, therefore, theoretically weaponized, is approved before it is replaced. Five Republican congressmen from New York, representing residential areas –whose residents are very dependent on the car-, has also threatened to try to kill the initiative through federal legislation. Nine appeals are pending, especially from New Jersey – where many New Yorkers liveexpelled from the Big Apple because of the high price of accommodation – and two others from individuals opposed to stopping the plan with Hochul at the time.

With toll revenue, the loss-making MTA, that hasn’t recovered the metro’s pre-pandemic ridershipconfident of being able to make a series of improvements. These include signal upgrades, the extension of the Second Avenue subway to East Harlem and projects to make more than 20 subway stations accessible (another major shortcoming, that of accessibility, is added to the finance).