NEW YORK — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday indefinitely delayed implementing a plan to charge drivers high tolls to enter midtown Manhattan, just weeks before the first “congestion pricing” system was set to launch.
The announcement was a stunning blow to a program, years in the making, that aimed to raise billions of dollars for New York’s beleaguered subways and commuter trains while reducing congestion and air pollution on New York’s streets. city.
Hochul, a Democrat, broke the news in a pre-recorded video statement, saying she had come to the “difficult decision that implementing the planned congestion pricing system risks many unintended consequences at this time.”
She cited the city’s fragile economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the financial burden the fee would place on New Yorkers struggling with inflation, as reasons not to pursue the program.
“A $15 charge may not seem like much to someone who has the means, but it can break the budget of a working or middle-class family,” Hochul said.
Hochul had previously been a vocal supporter, praising the program just two weeks ago and dismissing the “backlash from stubborn drivers” who worked to block implementation.
His change of heart was widely deplored by public transportation advocates as a betrayal of a key state environmental initiative that was supposed to provide an annual cash infusion of about $1 billion to subway and bus systems that transport some 4 million passengers daily.
Kate Slevin, executive vice president of the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit advocacy group, said the measure “would harm millions of transit riders who depend on improvements and harm the economic success of our broader region.”
The plan called for people driving passenger vehicles in Manhattan below 60th Street — roughly the area south of Central Park — to pay at least $15, with larger vehicles paying more. These payments would be in addition to already high tolls for using bridges and tunnels to enter Manhattan.
The MTA had already invested tens of millions of dollars in installing cameras, sensors, license plate readers and other equipment on the city’s roads in anticipation of the plan’s launch.
But as the start date approached, the fee triggered a growing backlash – and multiple processes — from suburban drivers and some local officials who expressed concerns about the impact on commuters. Former President Donald Trump called it a “disaster.”
Members of the MTA board, which oversees the transit agency, said they were not informed about Hochul’s plan.
“I’m in shock,” said board member Andrew Albert. “We won’t have new buses, new subway cars, new signs. It’s a betrayal of the millions and millions of people who would have been helped by this.”
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
