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New York’s plan to start charging drivers a $15 congestion toll to enter Midtown Manhattan could start as soon as mid-June, a lawyer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said this week.
The statements made in New Jersey federal court Tuesday laid out the clearest timeline to date for the Empire State’s controversial plan to impose the nation’s first congestion pricing fee system — which has been met with a slew of lawsuits.
During a hearing in the Garden State’s suit attempting to block the plan, MTA attorney Mark Chertok said details of the finalized fee structure could be decided on by the end of March, which would pave the way for the final approval process steps needed to start enforcing the toll come June, Bloomberg reported.
Before drivers can start being charged, the plan would have to go to the Federal Highway Administration to crosscheck it with the findings of an environmental assessment, Chertok told the judge.
Then the federal government would have to reach an agreement with New York City and New York state — the plan’s sponsors — to allow the tolling to start, the attorney added.
Judge Leo Gordon set oral arguments for April 3 given “the time pressures associated with this case,” according to Bloomberg.
MTA chairman Janno Lieber had previously said he was hopeful the agency could begin charging drivers the toll in May.
Here's the latest on NYC's congestion pricing
New York City’s $15 congestion toll to drive south of 60th Street could begin as soon as mid-June, a lawyer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said this week.
Transit officials predict the toll could raise $1 billion per year, which would fund major upgrades to the MTA’s subway, commuter railroads and bus systems.
This would be the nation’s first congestion pricing fee system, which has prompted multiple lawsuits, including from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, the teachers’ union and 18 New York lawmakers.
The labor coalition representing New York City’s nearly 400,000 government workers has also backed Murphy’s federal lawsuit.
Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams refused to support the state’s controversial congestion pricing proposal. Adams said he believes the city should have had more “power and control” over the situation, which likely would have resulted in a “different version.”
City Hall has been pushing the MTA to include exemptions from the toll for city employees and people driving to hospitals.
Under the contentious plan that aims to curb peak-day congestion, the MTA would hit drivers with a $15 daily toll if they come into Manhattan’s central business district below 60th Street.
Transit officials have said the $15 toll could raise $1 billion per year, which would be used to fund $15 billion in bonds to pay for major upgrades to the MTA’s subway, commuter railroads and bus systems.
But New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy filed a federal lawsuit in July last year in a bid to block the plan — arguing that Garden State drivers would be unfairly targeted.
The suit, filed against the US Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, argues that the plan is a “brazen money grab” given that New Jersey drivers already pay tolls to enter Manhattan.
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Murphy and other state officials allege the federal government improperly allowed the MTA an expedited review of the potential environmental and economic costs of the toll.
New York and MTA officials, however, insist the expedited environmental review still took more than two years and spans more than 4,000 pages.
Murphy’s suit is one of about a half-dozen that have been filed over the congestion pricing plan, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019.
The ongoing litigation has already caused months-long delays and held up major New York infrastructure initiatives — including the $1.3 billion program to overhaul and upgrade signals on the delay-plagued A and C lines through Brooklyn, the MTA has previously said.
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