Biden administration green lights nation’s first congestion pricing plan for New York

Politico ^ | 5/5/23 | DANIELLE MUOIO DUNN

[CFW]

The Biden administration on Friday cleared New York’s congestion pricing plan to move forward, approving an environmental review that suffered such significant delays many doubted the first-in-the-nation tolling system would ever happen.

The Federal Highway Administration issued a letter approving the New York Metropolitan Transportation’s Authority environmental assessment and issued a draft “Finding of No Significant Impact” that will now be up for public review for 30 days, according to a copy of the letter obtained by POLITICO.

The news means the agency has been given the green light to start charging drivers entering central Manhattan at peak times in an effort to cut down on gridlock.

MTA officials have said they would need almost a year to set up the new tolling infrastructure once it obtains federal approval, putting it on track to meet its current target of launching congestion pricing in the second quarter of 2024.

A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul said the finding “is a critical step that will allow our Environmental Assessment to be publicly available for anyone to read, and we will continue to work with our partners to move congestion pricing forward.”

[snip]

The public transit authority hasn’t determined how much to charge drivers, but has considered fares ranging from $9 to $23 for passenger vehicles and between $12 and $82 for trucks. The scenarios contemplate different combinations of potential discounts, credits and exemptions.

[gitmo]

The next logical step is to pay people who are leaving the city during peak times an equal amount.

[Wuli]

If the congestion pricing fares are based on vehicles as they enter lower Manhattan - below 59th street (the original plan) and NOT merely for being anywhere on the streets below 59th street, Amazon and Fedex will move more warehouses into Manhattan so that fewer of their trucks will be entering (more occasional larger trucks and fewer smaller trucks, with the eliminated smaller trucks exceeding the additional but fewer larger trucks. Other shippers will likely do the same thing.

The losers will be individual and indpendent business people that currently need to enter Manhattan to conduct their business. Both they and their clients will be among the biggest losers, as well workers that live outside Manhattan, anywhere, and for whatever reason find driving into Manhattan for work more of a necessity than a mere convenience (indpendent scheduling versus stuck with train and bus schedules). Some employers will reimburse some employees for their “congestion pricing” costs, added to their cost of doing business, and likely trying to recoup those costs in what they charge for their goods or services, adding to the “cost of just being in Manhattan”; making Manhattan all around more expensive than it already is.

Dictators do not give a dam about the consequences of their actions.

[Vaduz]

Pricing plan = Tax

Biden never passes up a chance to add them it’s a democrat rule.

[Ge0ffrey]

Manhattan for the wealthy —that was Bloomberg’s plan.

[ConservativeInPA]

Manhattan for the wealthy

I’m all for segregation. /s Where’s the place set aside for the non-wealthy that’s 100% free of wealthy people meddling? Guess which will be a nicer place if the non-wealthy don’t step foot in Manhattan.