City toll for you, not for me

Governor Hochul’s latest push for congestion tolls exposes New York’s real Reason for supporting the program.

The aim is not to reduce traffic congestion, but solely to “set prices” – in other words, to raise more money for the state.

But higher “prices” in the form of this new tax are of course not for everyone: only the private sector has to pay.

If you work for the city government, you can still travel to Manhattan for free – at least in some jobs.

After this fall's presidential, congressional and state elections, Hochul could lift her two-month “suspension” of the $15 congestion toll, the Washington Post's Carl Campanile reported last week.

But the revised plan, if implemented, will likely provide a fee of less than $15 and would likely exempt city employees such as firefighters and teachers from the fee.

The governor’s reversal of her previous decision would any Justification for the imposition of congestion charges.

More than two years ago, the state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority examined the environmental impact of the congestion charge as part of the federal approval process.

As part of this study, the MTA had to examine alternatives to the congestion charge that could achieve the dual goal of reducing traffic in Manhattan and raising money – a billion dollars a year – for the MTA.

An alternative would Achieve the MTA's traffic reduction goals: Reduce the number of parking permits the city issues to its employees.

That's because, according to a study, a larger percentage of government employees drive to Manhattan than private sector employees: 27 percent versus 14 percent.

This is partly because some (not all) of them work odd hours and carry bulky equipment, but also because of the free parking, which saves them over $30 a day in storage costs.

Following the same logic, if city employees were exempted from the new congestion toll, they would continue to drive to work in greater numbers.

Actually, more Government employees will travel by car and benefit from the traffic disruption as private sector commuters avoid Manhattan.

If you suddenly become cynical, you are right: It is never It was about traffic jams.

It was always about the promised billion dollars, which is in addition to the MTA's annual tax revenue of $8.6 billion (not included Tolls and tariffs).

In fact, the abrupt change of the city toll to a radically different program will probably require a new Environmental impact assessment.

From Hochul's point of view, such a further delay of months would be a feature and not a bug.

She wants someone – anyone — to save them both from the wrath of the small group of vocal congestion charge advocates who keep saying mean things about them (“Gridlock Kathy”), and So as well as the anger of the general public, which does not support a city toll.

This goal is to be achieved through new delays ordered by federal environmental authorities after former Governor Andrew Cuomo deliberately delayed the introduction of a congestion charge into law for five years in 2019.

Hochul’s new plan also shows that we don’t need a congestion toll to “save” the MTA financially.

Exempting many public sector workers and lowering prices would raise far less than $1 billion, but Hochul probably believes—and rightly so—that she can persuade lawmakers to impose another tax.

The fact that Hochul would order an exemption for city employees is also a practical indication of the Democrats' philosophy of government in New York: The rest of us exist to make things easier for the government.

Of course, there are cases where a firefighter lugging around 60 pounds of equipment should be given a special permit – or a policewoman driving to Manhattan because she doesn't have to get home until after midnight for a late shift.

However, there are equally compelling arguments for exempting a construction worker in the private sector who has to carry his tools with him, or a nurse or a doorman who works the night shift.

Differentiating between government employees is also likely to be difficult: Why should a teacher be exempt from taxes but not a building inspector?

There are NO certainly an argument for an exemption for teachers, everyone's favorite government employee. Teachers, like most people who work in Manhattan, carry little with them and work during the day.

Of course, many teachers live on Staten Island. And many private sector office workers also live on Staten Island.

That is why a commission appointed by the state decided last year, after listening to the stories of suffering of people who testified in favour of this or that exception, that NO professional exceptions.

If you honor one, you have to honor them all.

That's right: If we introduce a city toll, it must either be a burden for all drivers or for no one.

And it increasingly looks as if it will not be of any benefit to anyone: Hochul has finally driven the matter into a dead end.

Nicole Gelinas is an editor at the Manhattan Institute's City Journal.