New Yorkers argued over who should be exempt, who is bearing most of the burden and who should get a seat at the decision-making table.
More than two years after New York State lawmakers approved a congestion pricing plan that would toll drivers entering the busiest parts of Manhattan — the first such program in the country — New Yorkers and those who travel alongside them are getting a chance to voice their opinions.
Public hearings, which started last week, kick off an extensive review process that federal officials are requiring the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to complete before the agency can begin charging vehicles that enter Manhattan between 60th Street and the Battery.
Congestion pricing is meant to discourage drivers and address the city’s gridlocked streets. The fees raised will help the M.T.A., which runs the city’s subway, buses and two commuter rails, improve and modernize public transit.
All told, the review — which also includes a specific focus on environmental justice, exploring how congestion pricing might affect low-income communities and people of color — is scheduled to last 16 months, running into 2023.
There are 10 public meetings — seven remain — dedicated to the various geographic areas most likely to be affected by the congestion pricing plan.
More than 150 people spoke at the first three meetings, which focused on the boroughs outside Manhattan, the section of Manhattan within the proposed tolling zone and New Jersey. They included politicians, leaders of civic groups, business owners and residents.
Because the meetings are being held online, either during the typical workday or immediately after it, the group of speakers may not have been fully representative of the city, as some pointed out.
“I’m waiting for everyone else who looks like me on this meeting,” said Andrea Haynes, a Black woman who moved to Midtown Manhattan more than a decade ago from Co-Op City in the Bronx. “But guess what: They’re not home yet.”
Three additional meetings in October will focus on low-income and minority communities in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Still, among those who spoke, several clear debates emerged that are likely to shape the implementation of congestion pricing.
Some say Manhattan residents should be exempt.
During the three meetings last week, speakers who favored a congestion pricing plan appeared to outnumber those who did not.
Still, even some supporters did so conditionally, arguing that certain exemptions be added.
Under the congestion pricing plan approved by the state legislature, vehicles entering the tolling zone would be charged once per day. Toll prices have not been set; those will be determined later by a six-person board.
But Allison C. de Cerreño, the M.T.A.’s deputy chief operating officer, has said at public meetings that rates were expected to range from $9 to $23 for passenger vehicles using the E-ZPass toll system, with possible discounts overnight or during off-peak hours. If there are more exemptions, officials said, the base rate would likely be higher.
Currently, emergency vehicles and those transporting people with disabilities are exempt from fees, as are vehicles that travel on the F.D.R. Drive or West Side Highway but do not exit onto city streets. Residents who live in the tolling zone and earn less than $60,000 would also qualify for a tax credit.
But at the hearings many argued that those exemptions and credits did not go far enough.
People who live within the tolling zone in Manhattan wanted an exemption, arguing that because they used their cars infrequently and only to make trips outside the tolling zone, they were not contributing to the congestion targeted by the tolling plan.
“We don’t feel that we should visit family on holidays outside the district, and have to pay what is basically a ransom to get home,” said Howard Babich, who lives in Chelsea.
Paige Allen, an actor who lives in Hell’s Kitchen, said she relied on her 25-year-old car to leave the city for work. The additional congestion fee would be unfairly burdensome to her and lower-income residents, she said.
“I already pay for a garage,” Ms. Allen said. “I don’t have a choice of when I’m driving in and out of this zone — I live in this zone. And I do feel that the residents would be unfairly taxed.”
Assemblywoman Deborah J. Glick, a Democrat who represents parts of Lower Manhattan, said that she wanted a higher income threshold for the tax credit, arguing that $60,000 might be too low to help some working-class families in the congestion zone.
Vaylateena Jones, who lives on the Lower East Side, wanted an exemption for trucks bringing medication, food and household supplies. She worried that tolls paid by those trucks would end up being transferred to residents through inflated prices.
“I’m a retired registered nurse, and I really would not like to see people come into the hospital because they have not been taking their medication because they cannot afford it,” Ms. Jones said.
Still, some inside the tolling area rejected these arguments, saying that any car trips inside the congestion zone contributed to traffic problems.
“You’re making the same trip as commuters, just in reverse,” said Kirk Rotger, who lives in Midtown Manhattan. “You are part of the problem and you should pay.”
City residents outside Manhattan think it’s an ‘unfair burden.’
At a meeting focused on the boroughs outside Manhattan, several residents argued that they were being asked to shoulder a heavier financial burden for the rest of the city.
Schinae Wilson, a Bronx resident who commutes by subway, said the plan would be an “unfair burden” to her borough, the poorest in the city, where she said the subway had been particularly unreliable.
She noted that while Bronx residents might pay extra costs, the most immediate benefits brought by reduced traffic — cleaner air, less noise, emptier streets — would be focused on Manhattan.
Phil Konigsberg, who lives in Northeast Queens, said that the plan would unfairly target “the motorists from the outer boroughs” who were forced to travel by car because the subway system was not accessible to them.
But many Manhattan residents said they would be forced to spend more to help finance transit system improvements that would benefit the entire city.
“Living in Manhattan is expensive enough,” said Vicky Muller, who lives within the tolling zone. “I feel like we’re being discriminated against.”
At a hearing focused on New Jersey, residents expressed concern that they were being asked to unfairly subsidize New York’s infrastructure but they and their representatives were not given a vote on the plan or guaranteed participation on the board that will set tolls or exemptions.
Some argued that they would effectively be “double-tolled” to work or play in Manhattan: first by paying to cross a bridge or tunnel, then again to enter the congestion zone.
U.S. Representative Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat who has been a vocal opponent of congestion pricing, said that “when New Jersey commuters drive across the G.W. Bridge and into Midtown, they’ll get whacked” with tolls.
He has urged New York officials to withdraw their congestion pricing proposal in favor of a more cooperative effort that would also benefit New Jersey’s public transportation.
Some argue that congestion pricing won’t solve the issues it’s intended to.
Many who opposed congestion pricing argued that it would do little to alleviate the city’s traffic problems.
One frequent refrain from city residents was that regular drivers were not causing problems, but that congestion was largely coming from on-demand car services like Uber and Lyft.
“Reducing for-hire vehicles should be the primary focus of any attempts to de-congest the central business district,” said Philip Papaelias of the Bronx.
Rosa Chang, who lives near Gramercy Park in Manhattan, said that congestion pricing “should be assessed on the Uber cars and the like that are responsible for the unregulated number of cars endlessly circling our blocks.”
But Ruth Fasoldt, a senior policy manager at Lyft who lives in the tolling zone, noted that for-hire vehicles have been paying a per-ride congestion fee since early 2019.
City officials have also restricted the number of new for-hire vehicle licenses they will issue and have sought to limit the time that drivers can circle around Manhattan waiting for pickups.
Joseph Bergmann, a resident of Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan who vehemently opposed congestion pricing, argued that the city had failed to address other sources of traffic: bus lanes that were constantly blocked by delivery trucks and construction, bike lanes that took up street space and double-parked vehicles.
Supporters think this is taking too long.
Even ardent supporters of congestion pricing had a bone to pick: the entire review process was taking too long. They argued that there was an urgent need to ease car-choked streets, improve subway service and mitigate the worsening effects of climate change.
“This review is abetting politicians who are just scared of doing anything about traffic,” said Steven Bodzin, who lives in western Queens.
Some of those who spoke at the meeting also said they were willing to pay an extra cost if it meant larger gains.
Sara Clugage, a Brooklyn resident, said she bought a car during the pandemic after an injury made it harder for her to use the subway. But she said she hoped the tolling program would help fix or install elevators and improve service, reducing her reliance on an automobile.
“Paying that fee will benefit me in the long run and will also benefit my neighbors and all New Yorkers,” Ms. Clugage said. “So, please take my money.”
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