As New York’s “congestion pricing” inner-city tolling plan takes impact Sunday, certainly one of its main proponents is questioning whether or not the timing is true for a coverage meant to drive individuals to an more and more harmful mass transit system.
Via a spokesman, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed that he nonetheless backs the system that now tolls drivers $9 to cross beneath Central Park or enter Decrease Manhattan from Brooklyn and New Jersey – however questioned whether or not now could be greatest to implement it.
“Governor Cuomo believes congestion pricing is in the end the appropriate coverage, which is why he fought and succeeded in passing it after greater than a decade of failed makes an attempt,” longtime spokesman Wealthy Azzopardi informed Fox Information Digital on Friday.
Azzopardi stated that Cuomo’s unique plan, which discovered settlement from then-Mayor Invoice de Blasio, was based mostly on a “protected and dependable subway system” and a thriving metropolis core. Prior Mayor Michael Bloomberg had proposed an identical plan in 2007, but it surely died in Albany.
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“[G]iven the plain insecurity the general public presently has within the subway system – mixed with the tenuous state of New York Metropolis post-COVID, [Cuomo] known as for a data-driven examine on the impression of congestion pricing to tell the timing of such a significant coverage change and to make sure New York was not creating extra obstacles to its comeback.”
Cuomo beforehand wrote in a March op-ed that congestion pricing’s success hinges on confidence within the MTA and mass transit, which he famous has additionally statistically nonetheless not recovered from COVID ranges.
He famous how congestion pricing is supposed to “incentivize” subway use – however that that’s laborious to do when persons are getting brutally attacked underground – and famous that it was his father, Gov. Mario Cuomo, who first beefed-up police presence after the “dangerous previous days.”
On the time of a previous column within the Submit, Cuomo cited a conductor with 24 years of service to the MTA vowing by no means to return underground after he was slashed within the neck and required 34 stitches whereas working an A practice in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
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Extra lately, an Ocean County, N.J., lady was burned alive in Coney Island, and there have been a number of near-fatal circumstances of individuals being randomly shoved in entrance of trains, occurring from Morningside Heights to TriBeCa, since Christmas.
“It’s plain that New York is in a dramatically totally different place in the present day than it was in 2019, and with out a examine forecasting its penalties based mostly on info, not politics, it might do extra hurt than good to New York Metropolis’s restoration,” Cuomo’s spokesman stated Friday.
However Cuomo’s onetime deputy, Gov. Kathy Hochul, appeared full-steam-ahead in enacting the coverage, which is meant to drive commuters and residents to contemplate mass transit to go to work or play in Midtown.
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In a current assertion lauding her present plan, Hochul’s workplace stated the discount of the congestion toll from its unique $15 will save drivers $1,500 per 12 months, and that commuters will see “new and improved subway providers.”
“By getting congestion pricing underway and absolutely supporting the MTA capital plan, we’ll unclog our streets, scale back air pollution and ship higher public transit for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers,” Hochul stated.
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber, who oversees the state-run metro subway, bus and rail community, stated that Hochul is “stepping up” for individuals who need cleaner air, safer streets and fewer gridlock.
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He additionally famous that upgrades have already taken place on the 7 subway from Occasions Sq. to Flushing, Queens, and the L practice from Union Sq. to Canarsie.
Nonetheless, Cuomo’s camp maintains that it was he who envisioned and oversaw the upgrades to New York’s transit community with out the added tolls in impact – and ripped Hochul and Lieber for claiming that he had gotten chilly toes.Â
When the New York Submit requested Hochul for touch upon Cuomo suggesting she “hit the brakes” on congestion pricing, the governor directed remark to a Lieber spokesman, who blasted Cuomo for “flip-flopping.”
“What would actually hurt New York’s persevering with restoration is ravenous subways of a desperately wanted supply of funding after many years of underinvestment,” the MTA’s Aaron Donovan stated.
“The $15 price was handed by the MTA below Hochul’s watch, however please gaslight away,” Azzopardi informed Fox Information Digital. “New Yorkers aren’t silly.”
Cuomo beforehand informed WNYW that folks have the choice to do business from home, which they didn’t have when he first pushed the plan in 2019 – and that if he had been a commuter, he would seemingly balk on the thought of added prices at a time of “excessive crime and homelessness.”
Cuomo’s camp additionally stated that Hochul likes to take credit score for the achievements of his three-term administration that presaged the brand new tolls.
“The distinction right here is that Governor Cuomo constructed the [new Amtrak/MetroNorth] Moynihan Prepare Corridor and the Second Avenue Subway [extension to East Harlem], in addition to fastened the L practice and did the laborious work to get [Grand Central’s] East Facet Entry and the LIRR Third-Observe completed. All Hochul wished to do was lower the ribbons,” Azzopardi stated.
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Cuomo’s requires a pause had been joined by a number of New York Republicans, but the previous governor and potential 2025 mayoral candidate stays supportive of congestion pricing, whereas the GOP desires it nixed totally.
Commuters from New Jersey should nonetheless pay Port Authority tolls to cross the Hudson River, and outer-borough commuters the identical by way of the East River – albeit with a slight credit score towards their “congestion” price.
Drivers who stay on the FDR Drive or Joe DiMaggio West Facet Freeway won’t be charged until they flip onto floor streets.