On Politics: MTA must not risk congestion pricing by 'double

A double-tolling plan that the MTA is considering would force drivers using the Hugh Carey Tunnel to pay a regular toll as well as the new congestion charge.

How much should automobiles pay to enter Manhattan? This question, at the very heart of the congestion pricing plan set to be implemented next year, is proving to be one of the thornier political quandaries New York bureaucrats have had to grapple with in recent years. After the state Legislature first passed legislation in 2019 to permit tolling south of 60th Street, the MTA spent several years securing federal approval and trying to beat back opposition from New Jersey politicians.

Phil Murphy, the New Jersey governor, is still suing to scuttle congestion pricing altogether—the Democrat doesn’t want New Jersey commuters to pay extra to enter Manhattan—but his chances of success aren’t high. What he can do, however, is continue to foment backlash to congestion pricing, perhaps joining with Democrats in the outer boroughs and the surrounding suburbs to eventually undermine the pricing scheme.

As Charles Komanoff, the leading transportation analyst, recently argued, congestion pricing must be implemented correctly to survive opposition from Murphy and his many allies.

While much of the opposition to remains disingenuous, critics aren’t without merit. In a pre-Covid world, charging vehicles to enter Manhattan’s booming business corridors was a no-brainer. However, New York’s economic recovery from the pandemic has been gradual and uneven, with outer-borough businesses finding it much easier to return to full strength. The rise of remote work has emptied out Midtown and depressed various downtown enterprises. Commuting patterns have changed permanently.

Still, automobile congestion remains a great concern on Manhattan streets; some New Yorkers got into the habit of buying cars to skip pandemic-era subway rides and now want to keep enjoying that comfort. Truck traffic, driven by the endless surge of online deliveries, clogs commercial corridors from sunrise to sundown.

New York desperately needs to incentivize the use of public transportation. Congestion pricing can help do that and offer a critical funding stream for an MTA that can’t rely on pre-2020 ridership numbers any longer.

Critics rightly point out that MTA officials have a long history of wasting the revenue they hoover up—projects are routinely over budget, and New York construction costs, compared to what gets spent in London or Tokyo, are astronomical—and it will be up to state lawmakers to scrutinize where the tolling revenue actually ends up. But starving the MTA won’t produce better policy outcomes.

The MTA is currently considering imposing an extra toll on the tunnels that charge drivers to enter Manhattan. This would mean an automobile coming through the Hugh Carey Tunnel between Brooklyn and Manhattan or the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels from New Jersey would pay the current toll in addition to the new congestion charge.

Suddenly, a New Jersey motorist must reckon with the normal $14.75 peak hour toll and $15 congestion fee. The same would be true of a driver coming from Brooklyn who would pay the current $7 toll and the new congestion fee.

At least one member of the MTA’s congestion pricing team believes exempting these sorts of New Jersey and outer-borough drivers could require sticking other Manhattan-bound drivers with an additional $9 congestion tab. Komanoff and most transportation experts think the MTA’s math is wildly off, however. They believe there’s no need to double-toll the tunnels and a simple 15-9-3 pricing scheme—capping the peak hour congestion toll at $15, reducing it to $9 on weekends and holidays, and $3 on various off-peak hours—would generate the $1 billion a year the MTA requires to hit its revenue targets.

The reality is that double-tolling the East River and Hudson River tunnels would incentivize the same sort of commuting patterns that plague outer borough neighborhoods today. To avoid the Hugh Carey Tunnel, many drivers opt to stay on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and take the free crossings at the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. In a scenario where motorists pay a $7 toll and a $15 congestion surcharge to drive through a tunnel into Manhattan, they’ll also decide to head to the cheaper option at the bridges. Toll-shopping would continue to blight the waterfront neighborhoods of the city.

The greater question is why the MTA is insisting it must double toll the tunnels. Going forward with such a plan would give credence to Murphy and other politicians who want to kill congestion pricing altogether. It amounts to sabotaging what is still a very good idea.