New York commuters are one step closer to paying a toll when entering Manhattan below 60th Street.
The MTA board voted 9-1 to approve the congestion pricing plan on Wednesday. The plan faces a public comment period and another board vote — but it’s expected to be implemented in the spring.
MTA chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said the plan has been in the works for decades.
“There is a consensus that has developed that this is essential to the city's future, that we are the most congested traffic city in the United States, and that it is a threat to our future economically, and in terms of safety, for pedestrians and cyclists who are a growing piece of our traveling public, to the quality of our air and to the overall quality of life,” Lieber said.
If the plan is ultimately approved, most car drivers will have to pay $15 to enter Manhattan's Central Business District between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Truck drivers will pay as much as $36.
Low-income drivers and those coming from certain tunnels would receive a discount.
Supporters, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, have said the plan will encourage public transit to lessen traffic and lower emissions.
“New York City is officially becoming the first city in the country to implement congestion pricing,” Hohchul wrote on X. “It will deliver cleaner air, less gridlock and $15 billion for safer, better transit for New Yorkers, and the MTA has heeded my call to lower the maximum toll rate.”
But adversaries, including New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, do not support the plan.
New Jersey is suing the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration in an attempt to stop it.
“The costs of standing idly by while the MTA uses New Jersey residents to help balance its budget sheets are more than economic,” Murphy said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed. “At the MTA’s own admission, its tolling program would divert traffic and shift pollution to many vulnerable New Jersey communities, impacting air quality while offering nothing to mitigate such considerable harm.”
