Drivers crawling through the city’s most plugged up roadways may soon have one more reason to be cranky.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is breathing life into the idea of congestion pricing, which would charge motorists more for entering the most clogged streets of Manhattan. The revenue would help improve conditions in the city’s struggling subway system, which needs $800 million for repairs.
“Congestion pricing is an idea whose time has come,” Cuomo said in New York Times report, adding that the plan was inspired by, but would differ from, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s derailed proposal in 2008. That plan would have cost New Yorkers $8 to pass through jammed up areas during rush hour.
Cuomo has yet to reveal details about his proposal, so there’s no word yet on how much the tolls would cost Manhattan motorists. He told the Times that he had been meeting with “interested parties” for months.
Local group Move NY, which has been pushing its own congestion plan, responded to Cuomo’s recent statements with a Change.org petition calling on New Yorkers to get behind the push.
“The region’s transportation network is in full-blown crisis,” wrote the petition’s creator, Alex Matthiessen. “New Yorkers are experiencing record levels of subway delays and derailments, reduced schedules for the LIRR, dangerously overcrowded platforms and cars, Penn Station shutdowns, massive traffic jams… it’s enough to make us stay home and never want to go outside again.”
Cuomo will reportedly reveal details of the plan in January.
