I hope those New Jersey residents who drive into lower Manhattan aren’t counting on Govenor Murphy to stand for (their) principles in his battle with New York governor Kathy Hochul over Sunday’s impending start of “congestion pricing,” a money grab that will charge cars $9 to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street. Of course, there are those who insist that the purpose of the plan is to encourage commuters to find an alternative to driving in, but the NY State law that authorized congestion pricing requires that it raise $1 billion a year for New York’s transportation projects. And it doesn’t hurt that a lot of the people paying the tax to enter the holy land of lower Manhattan are from New Jersey.
(You may recall that Governor Hochul “paused” the implementation of congestion pricing to avoid hurting NY democrats in the November election. It was unpaused a few weeks later.)
A number of lawsuits have challenged the scheme, but until recently New Jersey’s was the last one with a chance to keep congestion pricing from taking effect as scheduled. Although the court hearing that suit ruled that more environmental analysis is needed, both sides are claiming victory on whether it will start on Sunday.
There are apparently settlement negotiations (secret of course), but it appears that the question is not whether there should be congestion pricing or how much drivers will pay, but what will be New Jersey’s cut. Supposedly there was an offer for money to help NJ Transit. Those NJ residents who think they would benefit from congestion pricing because their commute does not involve driving (and so someone else will pay) are pushing Murphy to settle.
There is of course no guaranty that any settlement funds earmarked for NJ Transit will actually get there, and even if those dollars do, the Legislature can just cut other funds that would have gone there to pay for other, more vote-getting priorities.
Jay Bohn
January 2, 2025
Copyright 2025 by Jay Bohn.