“New York Becomes First US City to Implement Congestion Pricing After Federal Approval”

NEW YORK — The federal government has given the green light to New York’s plan to implement the much-anticipated and hotly debated plan to become the first US city to charge motorists an extra fee to enter its most congested area.

The MTA’s pricing plan has been discussed for more than a decade. It’s the plan that would charge drivers, especially from New Jersey, $23 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. The pricing plan has yet to be implemented.

The practice is commonly known as congestion pricing and has been used in cities such as London, Singapore and Stockholm. In New York, motorists entering Manhattan below 60th Street will be tolled electronically.

The MTA has long argued that congestion pricing is essential to their bottom line and would bring them $1 billion annually. Proceeds from the plan would be used to support capital improvement loans on the MTA’s subway and bus systems.

The New York Legislature approved a conceptual plan for congestion pricing in 2019 and was initially projected to be in place in 2021. But the pandemic and a lack of guidance from federal regulators on the type of environmental review that was required combined to stop the project.

Implementation of the plan has been on hold pending final approval from the Federal Highway Administration, whose job it is to issue an opinion on the environmental assessment. Had the agency not given the green light, further study through an environmental impact statement would have been necessary.

Released last August, that statement provided some pretty in-depth insight into how the congestion pricing scheme works, its proposed scenarios, and who might be charged under its rules. The seven different plan proposals in the evaluation planned to limit tolling once per day for personal vehicles, motorcycles, and commercial vans; others might be charged more than once.

On Friday night, the US Department of Transportation sent a letter to transportation officials in Albany and Manhattan, paving the way for the final leg of the pricing plan. That letter says federal officials approved the assessment submitted last week.

The next step? A 30-day public notice period begins before a final plan determination is made. If no roadblocks arise between now and then, drivers could start paying more starting next year.

The plan has many detractors. A large bipartisan pushback effort, backed by lawmakers on both sides of the Hudson River, sought to stop drivers from paying more to get to the city.

Some lawmakers in New Jersey have said the plan is unfair because motorists already pay bridge and tunnel tolls to enter New York, and congestion pricing money will not be used to improve public transportation in New Jersey. Some motorists who pay tolls to enter Manhattan from New Jersey are expected to receive discounts or be exempted.

Ahead of Friday’s approval, a group of New Jersey lawmakers wrote to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, urging her to suspend implementation of the congestion pricing plan.

“New Jersey commuters already pay a toll of $17 when crossing the Holland and Lincoln tunnels, nearly double the toll paid on the bridges connecting Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. As a result, this congestion pricing would double taxes on New Jerseyans and result in our constituents paying over $40 just to go to work every day,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill and half a dozen other legislators wrote.

“At a time when families across the Northeast are already dealing with rising prices and high costs of living, this additional tax on simply going to work is unacceptable.”

New details from a recent MTA financial plan suggest that drivers won’t see the start of congestion pricing until April 2023, at the earliest.