Elected officials reacted Sunday to reports that President Donald Trump was considering federal intervention to stop congestion pricing only a month after it began.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Queens state Sen. John Liu, while attending a Feb. 2 press conference on battling Trump’s attempts to freeze federal funding, said ending congestion pricing now would have a devastating impact on the city as well as the MTA.
Congestion pricing began on Jan. 5 and the tolls charged to drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street are expected to reap up to a billion dollars in annual revenue for the MTA to use in improving the public transit system. This funding is essential, Liu said, to fully funding the MTA’s five-year capital plan expected to cost $65 billion, but for which only $32 billion has been presently funded.
“This is not for fancy stuff,” Liu said. “This is basic transit maintenance.”
Liu said Sunday that he expects Trump to try and stop congestion pricing — and if the president does, it could jeopardize the long-term health of the city’s transit system.
“IWhat that does is eliminate a billion dollars of annual revenue, which equates to $15 billion of the capital program, and so it’s not only potentially removing the $14 billion that the MTA is already expecting but removing another $15 billion that’s already baked into the current plan. So, this is really devastating,” Liu said.
Liu said the money was expected to pay for new subway cars, new buses, station maintenance, including making them handicap-accessible and, implanting safety upgrades and installing new train signals.
“We’re still relying on copper wires,” he noted.
Gillibrand pointed out that the subway tunnels also require resiliency investment following superstorm Sandy in 2012 that left them flooded and inoperable, leaving thousands stranded.
“We desperately need these upgrades. And how many people rely on mass transit every day? Millions, millions, and if our transit goes down, millions can’t get to work,” Gillibrand said.
Despite the money being garnered for repairs and the impact the tolling has had on freeing up roadways, most drivers amNewYork Metro has spoken with since it was implemented last month say they wish it never had the green light to begin with.
“It really pisses me off,” John Saffir said, who stopped on the Upper East Side to share his grievances with amNewYork Metro. “It’s a scam. I’m not against it for passenger vehicles during rush hour, you know, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. or something like that. But this is such bullshi*t.”
