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New York City has always had a lot of traffic, but Manhattan, in particular, has historically had particularly bad time with it. Multiple streets (many of them just 1-2 lanes), bunches of taxis, buses and ride shares, lots of storefront needing deliveries, people who live there (although many just use mass transit), people who insist on driving in, and the list goes on and on, equals a borough with wall-to-wall traffic during a good portion of the day into night. That, in turn keeps Manhattan an ongoing nightmare of gridlock, as well as air and noise pollution.

City leaders thought they finally had an answer. Following the lead of several cities in Europe, they were going to implement congestion pricing for drivers to enter Manhattan anyplace south of 60th street. Depending on the time of day, most passenger vehicles would be charged $15 a day from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends, with a 75% decrease in price during “off” times.

Of particular interest to tourists who would get a ride into the city:

• Fares would go up by $1.25 for taxis and black car services
• Fares would be $2.50 for Uber and Lyft rides

The monies would go to serve the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority – they’re in charge of the subways and buses, among other things) and it would projected to decrease traffic in Manhattan by about 17%.

It’s not happening

Congestion pricing was supposed to start at the end of this month, on June 30th. However the New York Times and other newspapers and broadcasters are reporting that Gov. Kathy Hochul has put the plan on hold indefinitely.

“After careful consideration I have come to the difficult decision that implementing the planned congestion pricing system risks too many unintended consequences,” said Gov. Hochul. “I have directed the M.T.A. to indefinitely pause the program,” she continued.

Hochul cited several reasons for putting the kabosh on the program, most noticeably that $15 was a significant sum for the middle class. She said she feared that implementing a toll to drive into Manhattan would “create another obstacle to our economic recovery.”

It’s probably just as well

To be fair, congestion pricing was not a very popular idea. In fact, a Siena poll from April found that 72% of those who lived in the New York suburbs opposed the program.

Although many people were happy to hear that congestion pricing was not going to happen after all (including those involved in over a half dozen lawsuits fighting the plan), some, who would like to see a decrease on NYC’s traffic and pollution problems, were not – despite the fact that traffic and pollution, according to studies, would only have increased in neighboring New Jersey and other boroughs of Manhattan.

According to the Times, Eric Adams, current mayor of NYC, said he was worried that charging vehicles to enter Lower Manhattan would be an undue burden for “everyday New Yorkers” and potentially affect the city’s economic recovery from the pandemic.

“We have to get it right,” the mayor said, noting that he had been communicating with the governor over the last few days. “This is a major shift in our city and it must be done correctly.”

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