New York reintroduces Manhattan congestion pricing plan

New York (The Uttam Hindu): New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has reintroduced a plan to impose congestion fees on vehicles which enter the Central Business District (CBD) of New York City starting from early January 2025.

As the first of its kind, the revised plan lowers the cost of tolls across the board by 40 per cent in comparison with earlier proposals.Passenger vehicles entering Manhattan below 60th Street now need to pay 9 US dollars once per day, down from 15 dollars from the previous plan.

Still, the rate of fees will go up starting from 2028, with cars paying 12 dollars once per day, according to the plan.The number of vehicles entering the CBD is expected to decrease by 10 per cent with vehicle miles down 5 per cent thanks to the congestion pricing, the plan shows.Hochul also put up a package of new measures to ease traffic and air pollution and expand bus service in New York City.

"While the toll structure under this plan is lower than the tolls initially proposed, it will still enable the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) to leverage 15 billion US dollars in bonds for the MTA's current Capital Programme over time," said a release by the governor's office.

The plan is scheduled to go before the MTA board for approval next week. Afterward, New York State and New York City will sign an agreement with the federal government, which gave green light to the plan in May 2024.The congestion plan is still controversial with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who condemned the plan on Thursday and vowed to sue to stop it from taking effect, Xinhua news agency reported.

Hochul abruptly paused the implementation of the congestion plan in early June shortly before it was scheduled to be implemented starting from June 30, 2024.

The Manhattan congestion pricing plan was first introduced and approved in 2019 under the administration of then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.