After decades of discussion and hand-wringing about traffic gridlock in Manhattan’s business district, New York’s state legislature passed a law in 2019 creating a congestion pricing system for lower Manhattan. The plan, that was scheduled to be implemented on June 30 this year, required passenger vehicle drivers entering the city to pay $15 per trip. The income generated would be used to improve the city’s mass transit system. Carbon emissions from vehicles constitute an increasing percentage of total greenhouse gas emissions around the world. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was an enthusiastic supporter of the plan until she wasn’t, deciding on June 5 to “pause” the program indefinitely. She claimed fees charged would burden those required to pay, even though the vast majority of such drivers affected were upper income.
Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Michael Gerrard, an attorney in New York who is coordinating the efforts of several groups working to see the program revived and implemented. Gerrard is the founder and faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change law at Columbia University. Here he begins by explaining why he believes Gov. Hochul changed her mind on congestion pricing.
MICHAEL GERRARD: Well, the rumor is that various politicians in Washington convinced her that congestion pricing would endanger some of the vulnerable Democrats in the House of Representatives and that she was pressured to put a pause on congestion pricing to protect those seats in the House.
MELINDA TUHUS: It’s her right, I guess, as the governor of New York to weigh in on this and be the decider.
MICHAEL GERRARD: No, we don’t agree with that. The state law that set up congestion pricing in 2019 said that the MTA “shall implement congestion pricing notwithstanding any other provision of law.” So those of us who are opposing the governor’s action think she acted beyond her powers and there’s going to be litigation to challenge her.
MELINDA TUHUS: What can you tell me about the rationale for why it should go forward and why her decision should be overturned?
MICHAEL GERRARD: So, we’ve been talking about congestion pricing or its predecessor – tolls on the free bridges – for half a century. And for many years, transportation planners have all agreed we need to charge people to drive into Manhattan’s central business district. This particular plan was mandated by the state legislature in 2019. It underwent extensive environmental review, which showed it would have a very positive effect. It would also help save the MTA’s capital plan. It had everything going for it except some of the politics. The governor was all for it until she suddenly flipped, shocked everybody and went against it.
MELINDA TUHUS: And her public rationale was basically it would be too much of a burden on certain parts of the population, which had not really changed from when she was supporting it, right?
MICHAEL GERRARD: That’s right. The great percentage of people who commute into Manhattan commute by mass transit. We have the best mass transit in the country. Only a tiny percentage of people who commute in drive. Those are the only winners of this plan (to pause it). But the congestion pricing program was really an essential part of the MTA’s capital plan. And so a lot of very important improvements that would have happened won’t happen as a result of this decision.
MELINDA TUHUS: Some people were saying that it was a burden on lower income people. In fact, I saw some data which I don’t have in front of me right now, that based on income, some infinitesimal percentage of low-income people drive into lower Manhattan anyway.
MICHAEL GERRARD: That’s right, and there were special provisions for rebates for people on the lower levels of the income scale.
MELINDA TUHUS: This would have been the first congestion pricing plan in the U.S. Is that true?
MICHAEL GERRARD: That’s right. It’s been very successful in London and Singapore and Stockholm and various other cities, in all of which it was unpopular when it was first introduced, but as time went by people saw how successful it was. But this was to be the first in the U.S. and other cities around the country were looking to New York as a model. The fact that New York has halted it for now is a nationwide setback.
MELINDA TUHUS: It was supposed to go into effect June 30, and now it won’t. I’m sure you can’t predict about legal efforts, how long it might take, but could it be fast-tracked or is it up to any particular judge to decide if it will be fast-tracked?
MICHAEL GERRARD: Well, lawsuits will be filed in the next few weeks and we’re hoping for a decision in November, December, something like that. Appeals could take longer, but depending who wins at the trial level, the appeal doesn’t necessarily hold things up.
MELINDA TUHUS: In the meantime, people who use public transportation are stuck with a system that is really in dire need of both repair and expansion, is that right?
MICHAEL GERRARD: Exactly right. The one expansion that has been planned is a northward extension of the Second Avenue subway and it looks like that will be halted as well.
Let me also mention there have been several lawsuits brought against congestion pricing. There’s one now pending in federal court in New Jersey that was brought by the state of New Jersey. The New Jersey case is still alive. The second lawsuit was brought by the teachers union and the Staten Island borough president, and that lawsuit was mostly just thrown out.
MELINDA TUHUS: What about grassroots support for congestion pricing? I think there have been some organizations that have been supportive because they see the value that it could bring.
MICHAEL GERRARD: Absolutely. I would say all the environmental groups, the riders organizations, the environmental justice organizations in New York are very much in support of congestion pricing. They are outraged at the action that the governor has taken. There continues to be political organizing against the governor and we’ll have this litigation coming up.
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