© Richard B. Levine
(New York, NY) — The first in the nation congestion pricing program is now in effect for Manhattan. The tolling program started Sunday and will charge nine dollars to drivers who head south of 60th Street during peak hours. A federal judge on Friday night rejected New Jersey’s final attempt to delay the program from starting after attorneys representing the state argued it will cause more congestion and air pollution in northern New Jersey. Drivers who use the Lincoln, Holland, Hugh Carey and Queens Midtown tunnels will get a three dollar discount. The congestion toll money will go to the MTA to repair and upgrade mass transit infrastructure.
Drivers who enter between nine p.m. and five a.m. get charged $2.75. Meantime, yellow cabs pay 75-cents to enter the zone while rideshares pay $1.50
Opponents to the new tolling program are not giving up in trying to halt it. Staten Island Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis says she’ll work with Donald Trump to try and get rid of congestion pricing once Trump is sworn in as president. Malliotakis believes there is an option for the next administration to halt congestion pricing while arguing that traffic congestion and air pollution will shift to the outer boroughs. Trump has previously said he’s against congestion pricing.
Meanwhile, New Jersey is still fighting a court battle in which a judge ordered the MTA and feds to provide more specifics about extra pollution and traffic in New Jersey but did not delay the start of the program in the process.
