It is estimated that New Yorkers waste almost 120 hours per year driving through or, better said, stuck in the Big Apple's Lower Manhattan area. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) wanted to change that by instituting a congestion charge a-la-London, UK. All that planning and funds spent on cameras are now going down the drain.
Everybody knows it: inner city traffic can become quite an unbearable thing to experience almost on a daily basis. In addition, it's bad for the environment and, in turn, for the people living in the city to have so many cars idling for no good reason.
Even worse, drivers can become frustrated, businesses may lose money because of delayed shipments, and first responders may not reach people in need in a timely manner. There's no upside to having more cars on the road than the infrastructure can handle.
So, the MTA, a public benefit company established in 1965 by the state's Legislature, came up with a seemingly nifty idea that was supposed to convince people to leave their cars at home and use public transit. Essentially, it was a pay-to-play implementation that almost copied the London model.
If you wanted to bring your ride to Manhattan's Central Business District on a weekday between 5 AM and 9 PM after the congestion charge had gone into effect, you would've had to pay $15. Driving a truck? Well, that's $24 to $36 per day (and $6 to $9 per night) for you!
As expected, the proposal wasn't popular with anyone. Many asked the MTA for exemptions, while others sued. New Jersey, for example, took Uncle Sam to court for greenlighting this initiative.
Many locals also sued the MTA, arguing that the tolls would redirect traffic through other neighborhoods and increase pollution levels in places where such a tax didn't exist.
Happily, a court dispute isn’t needed any longer. The congestion pricing plan is "indefinitely paused" after New York Governor Kathy Hochul intervened.
She argued that the tolls would've added more strain on already stressed New Yorkers who are trying to deal with the effects of inflation. "Implementing the planned congestion pricing system risked too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers at this time."
Now, the MTA is left with a $500 million project that has no launch date in sight. Moreover, the company needs to find new funding sources for the public transit system's upkeep. One handy alternative is to force businesses to pay more. So, no matter what, someone is still paying for MTA's plans.
The Governor also has financial state reserves that can be tapped into.
An MTA representative said the decision came as a shock. They're now in need of around $1 billion.
Finally, the levy could return at some point in the future. But, for the time being, there will be no congestion charge for those driving through Big Apple's Manhattan.
Car shows on TV and his father's Fiat Tempra may have been Florin's early influences, but nowadays he favors different things, like the power of an F-150 Raptor. He'll never be able to ignore the shape of a Ferrari though, especially a yellow one. Full profile
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