The MTA board voted 12-1 to approve Governor Hochul’s amended fare plan on Monday, effectively reviving the controversial toll that was intended to fund system improvements.
“This is a hopeful moment,” MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said before the vote. “It shows that New Yorkers – collectively – we can rise to and tackle the big challenges we face.”
The plan — announced last week to conclude Hochul’s five-month “pause” — will begin with a 40% reduction from the plan approved by the MTA board in March. That original plan would have charged motorists a basic $15 toll to enter Midtown or Lower Manhattan — the proceeds of which were intended to cover $15 billion in bonds for the MTA’s capital.
Hochul’s new plan will reduce tolls by 40% for three years — $9 a day for most motorists — before increasing to a full $15 toll in 2031. State officials plan to begin tolling on Jan. 5, 2025 .
Lieber called the toll changes a victory — a policy that would not only fund some of his agency’s major projects, but also one that would improve air quality and street safety in the city.
“If you go out, every time we talk about congestion pricing, and stick a microphone in the face of a driver coming off one of our free bridges and ask him or her if he or she wants to pay,” he said in an open comment to reporters: “When are you going to talk to a family who is taking their child to school at the Lincoln Tunnel and they’re afraid for their lives? When do you go out and talk to someone with asthma?
Hochul said she plans to implement the toll on Jan. 5, but it’s certainly not a done deal yet.
The plan now must be approved by the Federal Highway Administration — part of the federal Department of Transportation — which must ensure it complies with the MTA’s 4,000-page environmental assessment that the FBI approved last year.
At the same time, the city, state and federal transportation departments — along with the MTA — must sign a final agreement that would allow the tolls to go toward MTA funding, while also kicking off the agency’s three weeks of public education required by state law.
President-elect Trump has expressed his opposition to the congestion pricing plan, and it is expected that he will try to thwart the plan if there is no federal signature by the time he takes office on January 20.
David Mack, Nassau County’s representative on the board, was the lone dissenting vote, arguing that stricter truck enforcement and tolls on the East River bridges would be enough to increase revenues and reduce congestion — claims that are not supported by the MTA’s studies.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D–New York), a longtime supporter of the plan, spoke at a meeting of congestion pricing supporters at MTA headquarters Monday ahead of the vote.
“People in our region have waited long enough – the time to move forward with the congestion charge has finally come,” he said. “The MTA’s comprehensive environmental assessment shows that the $9 toll will undoubtedly benefit both the residents of New York City and everyone living in the region. [metropolitan] region.”
Under the plan approved Monday, drivers of most vehicles — regular cars, SUVs and pickup trucks — would have to pay $9 once a day to enter the traffic jam zone during the day.
That’s a 40% reduction across the board compared to the plan Hochul paused in June, but tolls will slowly return to their original rates.
In 2028, the toll will increase to $12, a 20% reduction. In 2031, the base toll will return to $15.
These prices only apply to motorists with E-ZPass. Drivers without the automatic toll system will face higher base toll rates: $13.50 initially, $18 in 2028 and $22.50 in 2031.
As with previous versions of the congestion plan, larger vehicles will be charged more tolls and tolls for night flights will be reduced by 75%.
MTA’s head of construction and development, Jamie Torres-Springer, said Monday that the expected revival of tolls meant his teams were already working to restart projects that had been halted during the pause.
Torres-Springer said he would “immediately” begin seeking contracts to bore a tunnel from 120th St. to 125th St. for phase two, the Second Ave. subway.
The plan also means six new subway station accessibility projects can begin immediately, he said, and 17 other projects that were paused can move forward with their design phase.
The MTA will seek to immediately purchase 270 additional electric buses, as well as new dual-mode locomotives for service on the Long Island Rail Road.
MTA will also resume dehumidification of the Verrazano Bridge main cables and will soon resume plans to install modern automated signals along the Fulton Line of the A and C trains in Brooklyn, as well as the Liberty Line of the A train . training in Queens.
That work would convert the vast majority of the system’s longest subway line to modern signals.
“Tolls will generate less net revenue during the phase-in, so we may need to manage project planning slightly differently,” Torres-Springer said. “But we think that impact will be offset by the availability of financing for the period 2025-2029. [capital] program,” he said of the upcoming budget that Hochul has pledged to support.
Congestion pricing also faces ongoing legal challenges — most notably a lawsuit by neighboring New Jersey, which claims the feds were wrong to approve the MTA’s environmental assessment without requiring a more intensive study of its environmental impacts.
The resumption of a congestion pricing plan reopens these legal challenges.
Neal Zuckerman, chairman of the MTA board’s finance committee, discussed these legal challenges Monday.
“To those who sued us, if you have a better idea where we can find a billion dollars, we’re all ears,” he said. “Otherwise, let’s put an end to these frivolous lawsuits.”
“I think this is practical,” he said of the toll. “I think this is the real world, I think this is fair.”
