As New York’s “congestion pricing” inner-city tolling plan takes effect Sunday, one of its major proponents is questioning whether the timing is right for a policy meant to drive people to an increasingly dangerous mass transit system.
Through a spokesman, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed that he still backs the system that now tolls drivers $9 to cross below Central Park or enter Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn and New Jersey – but questioned whether now is best to implement it.
“Governor Cuomo believes congestion pricing is ultimately the right policy, which is why he fought and succeeded in passing it after more than a decade of failed attempts,” longtime spokesman Rich Azzopardi told Fox News Digital on Friday.
Azzopardi said that Cuomo’s original plan, which found agreement from then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, was based on a “safe and reliable subway system” and a thriving city core. Prior Mayor Michael Bloomberg had proposed a similar plan in 2007, but it died in Albany.
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“[G]iven the obvious lack of confidence the public currently has in the subway system – combined with the tenuous state of New York City post-COVID, [Cuomo] called for a data-driven study on the impact of congestion pricing to inform the timing of such a major policy change and to ensure New York was not creating additional obstacles to its comeback.”
Cuomo previously wrote in a March op-ed that congestion pricing’s success hinges on confidence in the MTA and mass transit, which he noted has also statistically still not recovered from COVID levels.
He noted how congestion pricing is meant to “incentivize” subway use – but that that is hard to do when people are getting brutally attacked underground – and noted that it was his father, Gov. Mario Cuomo, who first beefed-up police presence after the “bad old days.”
At the time of a prior column in the Post, Cuomo cited a conductor with 24 years of service to the MTA vowing never to go back underground after he was slashed in the neck and required 34 stitches while operating an A train in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
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More recently, an Ocean County, N.J., woman was burned alive in Coney Island, and there have been several near-fatal cases of people being randomly shoved in front of trains, occurring from Morningside Heights to TriBeCa, since Christmas.
“It is undeniable that New York is in a dramatically different place today than it was in 2019, and without a study forecasting its consequences based on facts, not politics, it could do more harm than good to New York City’s recovery,” Cuomo’s spokesman said Friday.
But Cuomo’s onetime deputy, Gov. Kathy Hochul, appeared full-steam-ahead in enacting the policy, which is intended to drive commuters and residents to consider mass transit to head to work or play in Midtown.
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In a recent statement lauding her current plan, Hochul’s office said the reduction of the congestion toll from its original $15 will save drivers $1,500 per year, and that commuters will see “new and improved subway services.”
“By getting congestion pricing underway and fully supporting the MTA capital plan, we’ll unclog our streets, reduce pollution and deliver better public transit for millions of New Yorkers,” Hochul said.
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber, who oversees the state-run metro subway, bus and rail network, said that Hochul is “stepping up” for people who want cleaner air, safer streets and less gridlock.
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He also noted that upgrades have already taken place on the 7 subway from Times Square to Flushing, Queens, and the L train from Union Square to Canarsie.
However, Cuomo’s camp maintains that it was he who envisioned and oversaw the upgrades to New York’s transit network without the added tolls in effect – and ripped Hochul and Lieber for claiming that he had gotten cold feet.
When the New York Post asked Hochul for comment on Cuomo suggesting she “hit the brakes” on congestion pricing, the governor directed comment to a Lieber spokesman, who blasted Cuomo for “flip-flopping.”
“What would really harm New York’s continuing recovery is starving subways of a desperately needed source of funding after decades of underinvestment,” the MTA’s Aaron Donovan said.
“The $15 fee was passed by the MTA under Hochul’s watch, but please gaslight away,” Azzopardi told Fox News Digital. “New Yorkers aren’t stupid.”
Cuomo previously told WNYW that people have the option to work from home, which they didn’t have when he first pushed the plan in 2019 – and that if he were a commuter, he would likely balk at the idea of added costs at a time of “high crime and homelessness.”
Cuomo’s camp also said that Hochul likes to take credit for the achievements of his three-term administration that presaged the new tolls.
“The difference here is that Governor Cuomo built the [new Amtrak/MetroNorth] Moynihan Train Hall and the Second Avenue Subway [extension to East Harlem], as well as fixed the L train and did the hard work to get [Grand Central’s] East Side Access and the LIRR Third-Track done. All Hochul wanted to do was cut the ribbons,” Azzopardi said.
Cuomo’s calls for a pause were joined by several New York Republicans, yet the former governor and potential 2025 mayoral candidate remains supportive of congestion pricing, while the GOP wants it nixed entirely.
Commuters from New Jersey must still pay Port Authority tolls to cross the Hudson River, and outer-borough commuters the same via the East River – albeit with a slight credit toward their “congestion” fee.
Drivers who remain on the FDR Drive or Joe DiMaggio West Side Highway will not be charged unless they turn onto surface streets.
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