LAND OF THE FEE
Look out, Uber! State pushes $11.50 toll below 60th Street
Congestion pricing is closer to getting the green light in Manhattan after a state panel completed a report calling for fees to drive south of 60th Street, sources said Thursday.
Gov. Cuomo is expected to back the plan to raise money for subways and clean up traffic in the heart of New York City, with a levy on motorists that could be as high as $12.
The report by the “Fix NYC” panel says that it may take up to two years to fully implement congestion pricing if it is approved by the state Legislature, although some aspects affecting cabs and car services could be coming much sooner.
“It’s going to accomplish a good deal to reduce congestion and raise revenue to improve transit. The fees for the for-hire vehicles will happen this year,” said Sam Schwartz, a former traffic commissioner who helped work on the report, which is expected to be released Friday.
While the final congestion prices have not been determined, the suggested surcharge for passengers using car-hire services such as Uber and yellow cabs would range from $2 to $5 per trip.
The charge for all other cars is expected to be on a sliding scale, with fees ranging from $5.50 offpeak to $11.50 during peak hours to drive below 60th Street. Trucks entering the zone would pay $25.34.
No charge would be imposed on those driving through Manhattan on the FDR Drive.
Under the proposal, drivers who already paid a tunnel toll as they entered the affected zone would get a credit against the congestion fee. That would apply to the Lincoln, Holland, Brooklyn-Battery and QueensMidtown tunnels.
The plan also encourages authorities to more aggressively enforce traffic laws, such as “don’t block the box” and no idling for charter and tour buses, sources said.
Furthermore, there’s an option to have the congestion zone for for-hire vehicles and taxis extend to south of 96th Street instead of south of 60th Street. The fees on for-hire vehicles would be in place in about 10 m onths.
The congestion fees for trucks would be instituted before those for cars.
In addition to curbing traffic, the fee would raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the city’s aging subway system.
One panel member, NYU Professor Mitchell Moss, said the plan is long overdue.
“The subway has superseded crime and the schools as the key challenge facing New York,” he said.
Another panel member, former Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, said that, aside from imposing surcharges on for-hire vehicle trips, he recommended levying a surcharge on tour buses that clog Manhattan.
“We tried to find a cure that dealt the least amount of damage,” Molinaro said.
Approval of the plan is far from assured, even with Cuomo’s support, however.
A decade ago, the state Legislature shot down a similar proposal by then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg. But that was before ride app services such as Uber and Lyft dramatically increased traffic in Midtown.
Mayor de Blasio has expressed opposition to congestion pricing, likening it to a regressive tax on working-class motorists.
He prefers a tax on the super wealthy to help boost capital funding for mass transit, but it has little support in Albany.
An advocate for cabbies sided with the mayor.
“If an increase [in the taxi fare] leads to a drop in ridership, that directly affects the driver,” Bhairavi Desai of the NY Taxi Workers Alliance said.
This week, Cuomo, who is seeking re-election to a third term this year, strongly suggested he would put his political weight behind the plan.
“We have the ability with technology to put tolling anywhere in the city,” he said.