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MTA ANNOUNCES OFFICIAL START DATE FOR CONGESTION PRICING IN NEW YORK CITY

WABC

Updated 3 minutes ago
Janno Lieber joins us to discuss the upcoming congestion pricing.
NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York City's controversial congestion pricing plan
officially has a start date.

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber joined Eyewitness News on Friday to announce the
plan will go into effect for New Yorkers early on Sunday, June 30, at 12:00:01
a.m.

"I am thrilled, its a beautiful spring day in New York, I'm surrounded by
tourists and people who came to Lower Manhattan, they took mass transit," Leiber
said. "Ninety percent-plus of the people come to the congestion zone, the
central business district, walking, biking and most of all taking mass transit.
We are a mass transit city and we are going to make it even better to be in New
York."

The $15 toll will be implemented for cars driving below 60th Street in the
Congestion Relieve Zone during peak hours.

Lieber noted that as congestion pricing starts at midnight on the morning of
June 30, the first users will only be charged the nighttime fare of $3.75.
Drivers will not have to pay the $15 fee until 9 a.m. Sunday morning.

Officials say the toll will result in 100,000 fewer vehicles entering the
Congestion Relief Zone every day, resulting in less traffic and cleaner air and
revenue generated from the program will fund critical transit investments.

"Five years after the legislature made congestion pricing New York State law,
and with 4,000 pages of analysis, hundreds of hearings and outreach meetings
behind us, New Yorkers are ready for the benefits - less traffic, cleaner air,
safer streets and better transit," Lieber.

The final tolling structure is based on recommendations by the advisory panel:

Most passenger vehicles and passenger-type vehicles with commercial license
plates would be charged a $15 toll during the peak period (5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on
weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends), and $3.75 overnight. Those vehicles
would be charged only once a day.



Trucks and buses would be charged a $24 or $36 toll in the peak period,
depending on their size and purpose. Overnight tolls would be $6 and $8
Motorcycles would be charged $7.50, no more than once per day

Passengers would be charged a toll of $1.25 per trip for taxis, green cabs, and
for-hire vehicles, and $2.50 per trip for trips dispatched by high-volume
for-hire services such as Uber and Lyft. There would be no nighttime discounts.

The MTA also unveiled a new portal for those who want to learn more about
eligibility for discounts or exemptions.



Exemptions include: a low-income discount plan, an individual disability
exemption plan, an organizational disability exemption plan, emergency vehicles,
buses and commuter vans and specialized government vehicles.

In addition, New York State will offer a tax credit for low-income drivers who
live in the Congestion Relief Zone. More information about the tax credit will
be issued by the NYS Department of Finance in Fall 2024.

Opponents say the fees are a burden on workers and will increase the prices of
staple goods that are driven to the city by truck. New York's plan has drawn
lawsuits from small business owners and the state of New Jersey which demand
more thorough environmental assessments before the plan moves forward.




ALSO READ | NEW YORK CONGESTION PRICING: WHAT TO KNOW


FILE - Heavy traffic fills Third Avenue, in New York's Manhattan borough near
the United Nations, Sept. 20, 2021.

Ted Shaffrey



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