Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor in New York, has called for Governor Kathy Hochul to halt congestion pricing into New York City. Instead, Zeldin wants to improve public transit safety conditions.
Congestion pricing would reduce traffic into Manhattan by creating a toll on drivers entering below 60th street by 2024. Zeldin said the best way to alleviate traffic is to improve ridership experience on subways and commuter railways.
“When you see the story of a 15-year-old that gets shot in recent days, when you read about a man being stabbed in Morris Heights right outside another subway station, a fourth knife attack in 10 hours, a week ago Thursday — there’s clearly an issue that everyone in government at every level needs to be focused on.”
Zeldin was speaking outside a Bronx subway station where a commuter was allegedly pushed onto the tracks over the weekend. Zeldin plans to declare a crime emergency in the state if elected.
He said safer conditions will also help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority make up for lost revenue this past year.
The MTA plans to deploy 60 police officers to Long Island Railroad and Metro-North trains in January. Major crimes on the LIRR were up over 70% this year through August compared to the same period last year.
