Gov. Kathy Hochul justified her decision to indefinitely pause New York’s congestion pricing program partly by the challenges it might cause to some of her favorite Manhattan diners, which she characterized as reliant on customers driving in from New Jersey who would take a $15 hit from the toll.
So how do New Yorkers arrive at the haunts Hochul keenly described? Overwhelmingly, their “one-way ticket to Flavortown” in Manhattan comes via mass transit, or on their own two feet.
amNewYork Metro on Monday visited the Comfort Diner, the Townhouse Diner, and the Pershing Square Cafe — all of which Hochul described as locales she frequents and reliant on traffic from New Jersey drivers.
We spoke to 25 customers across the three diners and asked them how they arrived: 21 of them got there on foot or by mass transit, while only three drove a car and one took a cab.
The Pershing Square Cafe is located right across the street from Grand Central Terminal, boasting a $20 egg sandwich — more than the price of the $15 congestion pricing toll — on its menu. Hochul said the owner is “very happy” with her decision to axe the $15 toll to drive into Manhattan, just three weeks before it was set to go into effect.
But everyone we spoke to at the cafe midday on Monday said they either walked or took the subway to get there.
“I do not believe that,” said Sher, a resident of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn who took the subway to the ritzy cafe on Monday, when asked if she believes many people drive to the restaurant from the Garden State. She declined to give her last name.
“I feel like that’s kind of bulls—t,” said Jonathan Boyd, a tourist from San Diego and a proponent of congestion pricing, when asked the same question. “I don’t know why you’d come from New Jersey for this place, anyway. I mean, let’s be honest, New Jersey is probably full of its own great diners.”
One person outside the restaurant said he drove in from New Jersey — but he was heading next door for an event at Cipriani, one of the city’s swankiest establishments and a frequent choice for galas.
When amNewYork Metro asked to speak with the owner of Pershing Square Cafe, the manager said he had no comment and threatened to call the police.
Comfort food, and frustration
At the Comfort Diner, on East 45th Street and 3rd Avenue, most patrons said they arrived on foot or by public transit.
One patron, construction worker Nick Fiorello, did say that he drove in from Freehold, NJ, as he does every day en route to work on jobs in Midtown.
“It’s not that convenient to take the train from Jersey, where I’m at. You’d have to drive to the train to get the train,” said Fiorello. “[Pausing congestion pricing was] the best thing she could ever think about doing. Everything else was the worst that she’s done, but this is the best that she’s done so far.”
Another patron at Comfort Diner, Greenwich Village resident Russ (who took the bus), said he had mixed feelings about the toll while he feasted on meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
“As a resident, I resent having to pay for it. If I live in that area of town, I shouldn’t have to pay to get to where I live,” said Russ, who declined to give his last name. “On the other hand, I know it works well in other cities. I’ve been to Singapore, London, Stockholm, I see it works well there. And from an economic standpoint, I think it’s a good idea to reduce traffic. I’ve got an individual reaction and a more macro reaction.”
Russ also criticized Governor Hochul for pausing the plan so close to the June start date. “I think she should not have axed it,” he said. “I think she should have continued to implement it, to be honest.”
The owner of the Comfort Diner was unavailable for comment.
The toll, approved by lawmakers and subject to years of bureaucratic review and public input, was meant to reduce traffic in the busiest part of the New York region, improve air quality, and raise $15 billion to modernize the MTA’s mass transit system, which the overwhelming majority of commuters use to enter Manhattan.
The MTA now says its ability to complete the capital projects it planned with that money — resignaling subway lines, building elevators to make subway stations accessible, extending the Second Avenue Subway to East Harlem — is in jeopardy, and it will focus instead on projects to “preserve the basic operation and functionality of this 100+-year-old system.”
‘F–k that!’ on congestion pricing
Still, the toll has remained widely unpopular, with 63% of respondents saying they oppose it in a Siena College poll in April. Speculation has abounded that Hochul made the controversial choice to boost Democrats’ chances of retaking several suburban congressional seats that flipped red in 2022, something the governor has fiercely denied.
Even transit riders seem displeased with the toll.
“I think [congestion pricing] is bad,” said Frank Antonelli, who came to Midtown by bus from Whitestone, Queens, and was getting lunch at the Townhouse Diner on 2nd Avenue and 38th Street.
“I don’t believe in congestion pricing at all, f—k that,” added a 54-year-old woman who declined to give her name, as she and her elderly mother waited for an Access-a-Ride back home to Staten Island outside the Townhouse Diner.
Steve Vouvoudakis, who owns Townhouse and has worked the counter for 54 years, also said he is opposed to the toll.
“As soon as I make a left turn from 59th Street to pay extra $15, and the people make a right turn towards 70th Street, 80th Street they don’t pay nothing, you think that’s right?” said Vouvoudakis, who lives in Astoria and has worked at the diner since he was a teenager. “It’s not fair.”
amNewYork Metro dined on a delectable Eggs Florentine at the establishment, which at $20 cost more than the congestion toll. Old-school diners have been disappearing all through the five boroughs in recent years as the cost of rent and supplies skyrockets, forcing holdouts to raise prices. Vouvoudakis is worried the phenomenon will be exacerbated by congestion pricing.
Vouvoudakis confirmed that Hochul, whose office is around the corner, is a frequent customer, and a waitress showed this reporter a picture of herself with the governor after getting a bellyful of breakfast.
The owner, however, would not say what Hochul typically orders, nor whether he had spoken with the governor about congestion pricing.
