The MTA board voted yesterday and approved the congestion pricing plan that the governor announced late last week would return on January 5th. It was temporarily shelved in June just before it was about to start by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, in what many called a political game. Last week, after Election Day, the governor un-paused the plan, which charges most drivers $9 who enter Manhattan and go below 60th Street. But that’s just when it starts in January. It’ll be $9 through 2027, then it’ll go up to $12 from 2028 through 2030, and $15 in 2031. Al Samuels heads up the Rockland Business Association, and he says there’s still a chance it doesn’t happen…
Rockland Congressman Mike Lawler of the Hudson Valley’s 17th District told “The Morning Show” last week that, he, along with others, correctly called-out the pause for what it was, a political stunt…
State law requires that congestion pricing raise money for the MTA and decrease traffic and pollution. Many area officials have vowed to fight the plan with the hope of it being scrapped altogether and there are several lawsuits against it still pending in court. There are carve-outs for emergency vehicles, buses and transportation for the elderly and the disabled and for those with health conditions who can’t use mass transit. The plan still needs federal approval.