{"id":352469,"date":"2024-11-27T07:23:36","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T06:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=352469"},"modified":"2024-11-27T07:23:38","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T06:23:38","slug":"nations-first-congestion-pricing-tolls-back-on-track-for-new-york-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=352469","title":{"rendered":"Nation\u2019s first congestion pricing tolls back on track for New York City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Peter Murphy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the election passed, NY climate masochism continues apace<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was all an election-year head fake by New York Governor Kathy Hochul \u2013 and an all too obvious one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month the governor decided the nation\u2019s first congestion tolls for motor vehicles will become a reality on January 5th<\/sup> for entering the lower half of Manhattan Island in New York City after being paused<\/a> last summer by the governor during the heat of election season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So much for this mendacious governor\u2019s claim<\/a> last June that she \u201ccannot add another burden to working middle-class New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In sum, congestion tolling is all about the money, combined with the pretension of reducing emissions to \u201cfight climate change!\u201d It was so from the very beginning of this more than five-year quest, as CFACT contended<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call it another nail in the Empire State\u2019s climate coffin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congestion tolls were sold to the public to reduce vehicle traffic entering midtown and lower Manhattan to help cool the planet by some fraction of a quadrillionth degree \u2013 except they won\u2019t. Rather, many of those vehicles will not disappear, but remain in motion to park in upper Manhattan and New Jersey, emitting carbon just the same. Reduced traffic in midtown and downtown neighborhoods, including Wall Street, will mostly shift to further jam the streets in Harlem, Washington Heights, the South Bronx and New Jersey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, impact studies on the congestion toll scheme downplay or ignore this traffic shift scenario, though it is a major concern<\/a> of those in opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York State\u2019s and New York City\u2019s combined budgets exceed $350 billion annually, but it\u2019s not enough for cash-greedy politicians who always want more. In this case, the new tolls on drivers of cars and trucks entering Manhattan will amount to nearly $1 billion in user taxes annually to finance billions more in debt for mass transit capital projects for subways, commuter railroads and buses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York State Legislature in 2019 passed legislation that was signed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to authorize this first-in-the-nation congestion toll system, which then took five years to implement, more than twice the time it took to erect the Empire State Building. The scheduled commencement of the tolls was last June, until politics intervened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, who represents part of Brooklyn, successfully lobbied<\/a> Gov. Hochul to stop the new tolls from taking effect to boost the chances of his fellow Democrats to win more seats, flip the House majority, and make him Speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turns out, Democrats defeated two Republicans in suburban districts in the city\u2019s metropolitan area and retained Democratic members in two other contested seats. Congressman Jeffries, however, will remain minority leader since the GOP gained seats elsewhere in the country and will remain the majority in the U.S. House. Oh, well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will the elections over\u2014surprise!\u2014the pause in congestion tolls is over, and will take effect after all. And, with the early January start, Gov. Hochul will avoid a possible effort by the incoming Trump administration to undo the toll project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one should be surprised at this transparent dishonestly to New York City metropolitan voters, who will pay congestion tolls six months after Gov. Hochul\u2019s \u201cpause\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toll rates<\/a> formerly approved last week by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority include $9.00 for passenger cars entering Manhattan, which is lower than the $15.00 that was to go into effect last summer (but, of course, higher than the current zero dollars). Truck tolls will be more than double this amount. The nine-dollar fee will increase to $12.00 by 2028 and $15.00 by 2031. Considering Gov. Hochul\u2019s flim-flam on this issue, expect those increases to hit much sooner, say, immediately following her expected re-election campaign in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another punitive aspect of the city\u2019s congestion tolls is they will be effective around the clock, albeit at lower rates during overnights and weekends when heavy commuter traffic dissipates. The congestion tolls in London and Stockholm, Sweden, for example, do not charge during these after-hours. There also is no exemption<\/a> for non-emission electric vehicles, which further discredits the talking point that congestion tolls are about mitigating traffic or curtailing climate change. Rather, it\u2019s another voracious cash grab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York\u2019s congestion toll scheme is another example of the long<\/a>-term dysfunction<\/a> and decline<\/a> of the Empire State, especially as it continues<\/a> to pursue fantasy climate change<\/a>-related schemes<\/a>, from subsidizing off-shore wind turbines<\/a>, banning gas- and coal<\/a>-powered appliances<\/a>, imposing electric-only building codes<\/a>, blocking hydrofracturing<\/a> and natural<\/a> gas pipelines<\/a>, to closing nuclear<\/a> facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate-change policies in New York, including congestion tolls, will continue to drive up the cost of living and employment. Absent repeal of such climate lunacy, thousands of New Yorkers will continue<\/a> to pack-up and head for the exits<\/a> to saner, more energy-efficient and affordable states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was all an election-year head fake by New York Governor Kathy Hochul \u2013 and an all too obvious one.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month the governor decided the nation\u2019s first congestion tolls for motor vehicles will become a reality on January 5th for entering the lower half of Manhattan Island in New York City after being paused last summer by the governor during the heat of election season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":352470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691831690,691818112,691831689,691831691],"class_list":{"0":"post-352469","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-fight-climate-change","9":"tag-money","10":"tag-new-york-governor-kathy-hochul","11":"tag-the-new-york-state","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0New-York-City-traffic-congestion.jpg?fit=2508%2C1672&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1tGZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":419641,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=419641","url_meta":{"origin":352469,"position":0},"title":"Hochul must reveal the \u201cruinous cost\u201d of the Climate Act","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/01\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Governor Kathy Hochul should publicly disclose internal state assessments showing extremely high costs for fully implementing New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), enacted in 2019.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate Act\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate Act","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-act"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMEnx_hkh4WfG70op6cnHRa7RtyQtrxAnCI62SBeUlbcpS2ETpCuCsHnGFDsrz_QcEAaLgwx3X43GpkJ7PkzZdGYuZyaoBxx2uymbT17Xjx401dq2420qWtJtrEP2L0.jpeg?fit=1200%2C597&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMEnx_hkh4WfG70op6cnHRa7RtyQtrxAnCI62SBeUlbcpS2ETpCuCsHnGFDsrz_QcEAaLgwx3X43GpkJ7PkzZdGYuZyaoBxx2uymbT17Xjx401dq2420qWtJtrEP2L0.jpeg?fit=1200%2C597&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMEnx_hkh4WfG70op6cnHRa7RtyQtrxAnCI62SBeUlbcpS2ETpCuCsHnGFDsrz_QcEAaLgwx3X43GpkJ7PkzZdGYuZyaoBxx2uymbT17Xjx401dq2420qWtJtrEP2L0.jpeg?fit=1200%2C597&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMEnx_hkh4WfG70op6cnHRa7RtyQtrxAnCI62SBeUlbcpS2ETpCuCsHnGFDsrz_QcEAaLgwx3X43GpkJ7PkzZdGYuZyaoBxx2uymbT17Xjx401dq2420qWtJtrEP2L0.jpeg?fit=1200%2C597&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMEnx_hkh4WfG70op6cnHRa7RtyQtrxAnCI62SBeUlbcpS2ETpCuCsHnGFDsrz_QcEAaLgwx3X43GpkJ7PkzZdGYuZyaoBxx2uymbT17Xjx401dq2420qWtJtrEP2L0.jpeg?fit=1200%2C597&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":411811,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=411811","url_meta":{"origin":352469,"position":1},"title":"New York\u2019s climate law hits the wall","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/11\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Hell done froze. 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