COUNCILOR REVS UP CONGESTION PRICING
The City Council plans to debate bringing congestion pricing to Boston, a policy long kicked around at the state level that would charge drivers higher fees with the aim of reducing traffic and funding transit improvements.
A hearing order on the matter, filed by City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, will be presented for possible debate at today’s City Council meeting.
“Congestion pricing is just such a popular mechanism that is in the process of possible utilization in parts of New York and New Jersey, showing itself to be a prospective viable option for implementation within Boston,” the order states.
“A set fee placed on drivers of various vehicles could bring money and resources toward other elements of the community, reduce traffic, increase transit use and improve air quality,” Fernandes Anderson wrote.
She did not respond to a request for comment on the measure she put forward, which is already drawing mixed reactions from her colleagues, although the general consensus among the councilors contacted by the Herald was that they wanted more information before taking an official stance on the matter.
City Councilor Benjamin Weber said he was “open to exploring” congestion pricing, while pointing to the 15year “fight” it took to bring such a policy to New York City, which is moving forward with a plan to charge drivers traveling into a designated “congestion zone” a higher toll amount.
“I think that Boston should look at ways to reduce congestion and raise revenue so if this can accomplish those things, I think it’s worth looking into,” Weber said.
City Councilor-at-Large Erin Murphy said she looks forward to a hearing to discuss congestion pricing, but cautioned the city against hitting drivers with higher fees, with the many issues plaguing the region’s public transit system.
“Until we have a reliable and efficient public transit in all areas of the city, the thought of making drivers pay more to drive does not seem right to me,” Murphy said. “If the end game is to reduce traffic, there are other ways to address that than adding another tax to drivers.”
A spokesman for Mayor Michelle Wu, when asked for her stance on congestion pricing, provided a statement that said, “We hear from residents throughout the city that traffic can be an unbearable stress on a daily basis, and the data is undeniable that the public health impacts of pollution from traffic disproportionately affect underserved communities.”
In Manhattan, most drivers, or those driving cars into highly trafficked areas of the city, will pay a $15 toll, but the fee is set to vary depending on the size of the vehicle, with truckers paying more and motorcyclists paying less.
The order comes as the state is considering congestion pricing as one of many options “on the table” for raising funding to stop the bleeding at a cash-strapped MBTA that is staring down a $567 million budget gap in fiscal year 2025 and has stated it needs roughly $25 billion to bring its system into a “state of good repair.”
State Sen. Brendan Crighton, who filed legislation in past years that would create a mobility pricing commission dedicated to studying ways to improve traffic, including congestion pricing, is now sitting on the governor’s new transportation funding task force that he said will look into those strategies instead.
Crighton said his bill had been vetoed “a number of times,” including by ex-Gov. Charlie Baker in the summer of 2022, when he cited equity concerns with congestion pricing. Gov. Maura Healey has been more receptive to the concept.
“Time isn’t on our side when we need to have an in-depth study for this, at a time when the gas tax is eroding and we’re seeing significant gaps both in revenue and on the transportation side of things,” Crighton said, referring to the state’s 24-cents-per-gallon tax on drivers.
Crighton, who co-chairs the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation, joined other proponents in pointing to how the mandated switch to electric vehicles by 2035 will lead to declining gas tax revenue, which is today’s primary contribution to the state’s transportation improvement coffers, at more than $600 million per year.
“I think everything needs to be on the table,” Crighton said, citing options that could include updating the state’s toll structure, or charging drivers per mile traveled with their personal vehicles.
Transportation advocate Chris Dempsey said the city could incorporate other tolling options that would charge drivers for traveling within or into a congested part of Boston, like what New York City is doing, and offer discounts for drivers traveling at off-peak hours, as a way to ease congestion. Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said congestion pricing could unfairly saddle drivers with higher fees to make up for lost revenue at a time when the state and MBTA are pushing for low-income public transit fares.
He also said the measure comes across as “politically motivated” by “the more progressive camps” who want to discourage driving. Many of the drivers who would be impacted, he said, are shift workers who have no say in when they commute to Boston.
“Something like congestion pricing could end up being very, very regressive for those types of taxpayers and residents,” Hurst said.
Of the criticism, Dempsey said congestion pricing is “not about punishing drivers” or filling a budget gap at the MBTA.
“Drivers are already punished by our soul-crushing congestion,” Dempsey said. “The way to fix that soulcrushing congestion is to use tools like this so that people have more reliable and faster commutes.”
Material from Herald wire services contributed to this report.