Taxing Tuesday: Congestion Pricing Comes to NYC, Finally

Let's see how it goes

As a reminder, this is the backstory:

• Governor Hochul tries to delay the implementation of congestion pricing in NYC in an important election year

• Various groups tried suing and petitioning to prevent implementation in the first place, but sorry, this did get by the state legislature and the MTA needs the money

• Sure, they argue there will be less traffic (that may happen, but I can see some weird behavior happening in ugly ways instead) and less air pollution (the worst air pollution is not in the place they’re imposing these charges)

• Other groups sued to make sure the congestion pricing went into effect on time… it did not

• Anyway, the Democrats lost their elections anyway, and all sorts of groups “shifted red” in November 2024 even with all this hoo-ha from Hochul.

• So now it’s time for implementation!

Source: NY Post, 30 Dec 2024

Older posts:

5 June 2024: Public Finance Round-Up 2024 June 5: NY, Chicago, and Audit Delays!

12 June 2024: Hochul's Congestion Pricing Hokey Pokey: More Reactions

From that post:

At the Washington Post: People hate traffic. They also hate this great way to clear it

Subhed: If it can’t be done in New York City, it probably can’t be done anywhere else in America.

That’s by Megan McArdle. So, it’s actually being attempted in New York City. We will see how it goes.

12 Nov 2024: Taxing Tuesday: The Return of Trump and NYC Congestion Charges!

As I noted when Hochul suspended the congestion charges in the summer, the big problem was that the MTA needs the revenue. As unpopular as the congestion charges are, she has to do something.

There are concentrated interests against congestion pricing and more diffuse interests to support it. Then there are the practical issues surrounding implementing the charges before Trump is inaugurated. What fun.

Okay, that’s all history. Let’s get to now.

Current Reactions

6 Jan 2025, NBC 4 NY: How are people reacting to congestion pricing in NYC?

zzz

After years of studies, delays and a last-ditch bid by New Jersey to halt the toll, New York City's congestion pricing launched without major hiccups early Sunday. But transit officials cautioned the first-in-the-nation scheme could require adjustments — and likely would not get its first true test until the workweek.

….

Drivers of most passenger cars will pay $9 to enter Manhattan south of Central Park on weekdays between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. and on weekends between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. During off hours, the toll will be $2.25 for most vehicles.

The fee — which varies for motorcyclists, truck drivers and ride-share apps — will be collected by electronic toll collection systems at over 100 detection sites now scattered across the lower half of Manhattan.

….

On Sunday morning, hours after the toll went live, traffic moved briskly along the northern edge of the congestion zone at 60th Street and 2nd Avenue. Many motorists appeared unaware that the newly activated cameras, set along the arm of a steel gantry above the street, would soon send a new charge to their E-Z Passes.

“Are you kidding me?” said Chris Smith, a realtor from Somerville, New Jersey, as he drove against traffic beneath the cameras, circumventing the charge. “Whose idea was this? Kathy Hochul? She should be arrested for being ignorant.”

Some local residents and transit riders, meanwhile, said they were hopeful the program would lessen the bottlenecks and frequent honking in their neighborhoods, while helping to modernize the subway system.

“I think the idea would be good to try to minimize the amount of traffic down and try to promote people to use public transportation,” said Phil Bauer, a surgeon who lives in midtown Manhattan, describing the constant din of traffic in his neighborhood as "pretty brutal.”

Those who go in and out of the area regularly, as with the bridges, won’t remain ignorant of what is going on.

I expect many will change their behavior, as seen from the examples below.

Emergency Workers Look to Transfer or Quit

5 Jan 2025, amNY: Congestion pricing: EMS workers say they’re set to leave Manhattan posts as toll program starts

Like all NYC workers, members of FDNY Local 2507, representing the city’s 4,100 emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics, are not exempt from the MTA’s $9 base toll into Manhattan south of and including 60th Street. As a result, the union is urging its approximately 270 EMTs and paramedics assigned to the area to transfer out as soon as possible.

Oren Barzilay, president of Local 2507, said city EMTs and paramedics save thousands of lives each year despite earning less than most delivery workers across the city, thanks to a new city law.

In 2024, City Hall mandated a nearly $20 per hour minimum wage increase for app-based food delivery workers across the five boroughs. Meanwhile, FDNY EMTs continue to earn just $18.94 per hour of work, less than $3 over the city’s 2025 minimum wage.

….

Local 2507 is not the only union that fought congestion pricing. The United Federation of Teachers and the Trucking Association of New York tried unsuccessfully to pause congestion pricing last month while their lawsuits opposing the program proceeded.

It would be interesting if in attempting to fund the MTA, the state has just made it more expensive to staff the city of New York.

I believe a bunch of other “un-intended” expenses are about to rise, as well.

Some Lawsuits Continue

5 Jan 2025, NY Times: New York’s Congestion Pricing Plan Just Started, but Could Be Undone

After decades of delays and many hard-fought attempts to stop it, New York City’s congestion pricing program has finally begun.

But even now, the unpopular program could still be stopped by its many detractors — including President-elect Donald J. Trump, whose electoral victory is being certified on Monday. Mr. Trump has promised to end it permanently once he takes office on Jan. 20, though his options are limited now that the plan is underway.

….

The program cleared a major legal hurdle on Friday just before it went into effect, when a federal judge denied New Jersey’s emergency request to stop it. In recent weeks, federal judges have ruled against several other efforts to stop the plan.

But while congestion pricing has now started, that doesn’t mean the legal battles are over. Opponents say they will continue to fight it in the courts.

“Our lawsuit continues because the congestion pricing plan that is now in effect puts the financial and environmental burden on communities least able to pay, and the last to see improved air quality or less congestion,” Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said in a statement over the weekend.

I mean, I have the opinion that the legislature may pass stupid laws, and then the electorate gets the benefit of finding out the results of said stupid laws.

Lawsuits to try to save oneself from legislative stupidity are not the fix.

Not voting those idiots into the legislature in the first place is the fix.

Other attempts at “cleverness”: altering license plates

6 Jan 2025, NY Post: NYC drivers devise clever ways to conceal license plate numbers as congestion toll takes effect — including James Bond-style ‘plate flipper’

Some Big Apple motorists were recently spotted with license plates subtly obscured using ultra-low-tech methods — which could potentially be used to evade New York’s wildly unpopular congestion toll that just went into effect.

The Post spotted a variety of these sneaky, DIY tactics in action — often deployed on newer or high-end vehicles — reminiscent of the ongoing “ghost plates” problem that costs the city hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

While it’s not known whether the observed trickery is a direct result of the new $9 toll being imposed when entering Midtown Manhattan, many of the altered plates were sighted near the perimeters of the congestion zone on Sunday, when the fee went into effect.

The most basic method involved covering up or modifying a single digit on a license plate.

This was often done by scratching out a letter or number, like a car seen with an L painted over in white in an apparent attempt to blend it in with the background color of the current New York plates.

….

Bronx Councilman Oswald Feliz, who has pushed laws to crack down on ghost plates, said Monday that drivers using fraudulent and concealed license plates are a “widespread” problem around the city.

….

Would-be toll evaders also sometimes utilize high-tech methods featuring elaborate devices straight out of a James Bond movie, such as a “plate flipper” that enables the driver to rotate their license plates with the push of a button from inside the car.

Well, good luck with the blatantly illegal attempts at dodging tolls.

Cost of shipping to increase to area businesses

Because, duh.

6 Jan, WSJ: New York’s Congestion Pricing Takes a Toll on Truckers

Starting this week in New York City, heavy-duty trucks must pay $21.60 each time they enter Manhattan south of 60th Street between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays and between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends. The fee is scheduled to rise to $28.80 in 2028 and $36.00 in 2031.

….

The charges add to the high costs for truckers in the New York metropolitan region, including tolls of $100 or more to cross some bridges, as well as some of the highest in the nation for insurance and labor. Stiff penalties for a long menu of infractions, including $115 tickets for double parking in neighborhoods with limited curb space and fines of $350 for idling for more than three minutes, add to the financial toll.

“For many this is going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” said Zach Miller, vice president of government affairs at the Trucking Association of New York, which represents hundreds of carriers from independent owner-operators to large fleets.

Miller said trucking companies will absorb some of the extra costs from the tolls, but they will have to pass on a portion of the fees to customers such as restaurants and bars that already operate on thin margins. “I have heard a lot of concern about losing customers because of increased rates,” he said.

Freight companies and their customers say the charges will pile on costs for cargo that can’t reach its destination any other way.

“A restaurant’s fish order is not taking the subway from the Bronx to Midtown Manhattan,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of New York City Hospitality Alliance, which represents restaurants, bars and nightclubs. “That truck has to come into the zone and our suppliers have told us this is going to increase their cost of doing business.“

I hope all the people in central Manhattan are going to enjoy that all their food will be more expensive as a result of all this.

It’s not like the trucks bringing in their food were picking high-traffic times to deliver food for the hell of it. They deliver the stuff when it’s ready and fresh.

I don’t want to hear about the high price of the lunches at the office, you hoity-toity ones who were proclaiming that everybody needed to take mass transit. If you weren’t brown-bagging that lunch into the office with you on the train or bus, then you were just as guilty.