(New York) On June 30, New York was to revolutionize road transportation in the United States by becoming the first city in the country to introduce a congestion charge system.
Its objective was threefold: to decongest Manhattan’s traffic, clean up its air and finance the renovation of the decrepit infrastructure of its sprawling subway network.
Under this system, car, truck and bus drivers would have to pay $15 to $36 to enter Manhattan south of 60e Street, with some exceptions. And the agency responsible for the subway (MTA) was to receive annual revenues of $1 billion, on which it intended to rely to borrow the $15 billion needed to renovate its network.
PHOTO LILA BARTH, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
New York Subway A Line Car
This urban toll project excited some of its promoters all the more because it would, according to them, influence several other North American cities, from Boston to Los Angeles via Montreal, and thus reduce automobile domination.
“It would have been such a big victory, and there would have been a great chance that the ripple effect would be very strong. What she did was remove what would have been a very big incentive,” laments Charles Komanoff, an environmental activist, transit analyst and longtime New York political figure.
“She” is the Democratic Governor of New York State, Kathy Hochul. On June 5, to everyone’s amazement, this politician from the Buffalo region announced the indefinite suspension of the Manhattan urban toll project, on which the State and the City had been working on since at least 2007.
PHOTO CINDY SCHULTZ, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Kathy Hochul, Democratic Governor of New York
She justified her decision by citing the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on working families and New York’s economy.
“Let’s be real: A $15 fare may not be much for someone who can afford it, but it can blow the budget out of a hard-working middle-class household,” he said. she said in a video.
An electoral decision
His explanation convinced neither supporters nor opponents of congestion pricing in New York.
PHOTO YUKI IWAMURA, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Demonstration for the urban toll project on June 5 in New York
“She was called to order by the Democrats in Washington,” says Raul Rivera, founder of the organization NYC Drivers Unite, who says he is “ecstatic” following the governor’s decision.
According to this version conveyed by certain media, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, would have exerted pressure on the governor of New York so that she suspends the introduction of the urban toll. Anyone who dreams of becoming Speaker of the House certainly knew that this project was very unpopular in constituencies located in the suburbs of New York, both on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley.
PHOTO KARSTEN MORAN, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Traffic in Times Square
However, in 2022, Democrats lost four House seats in these districts. Seats that they want to wrest from the Republicans in 2024 in order to regain the majority.
Hakeem Jeffries, who represents a district in Brooklyn, denied the version raised by Raul Rivera and others.
PHOTO RICHARD HÉTU, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Raul Rivera, founder of NYC Drivers Unite
Charles Komanoff doesn’t believe it either. From there to saying that electoralism did not weigh in the governor’s decision, there is a step that cannot be taken.
“She panicked,” he said. She feared that Democrats would not be able to regain the suburban New York seats they lost two years ago. And she didn’t want to be blamed again. »
In 2022, Governor Hochul was criticized for ignoring the issue of crime in the election for the position she had inherited a year earlier after the resignation of Andrew Cuomo, targeted by allegations of sexual harassment. She was elected by six percentage points. But his campaign focused on protecting abortion rights had hurt Democratic candidates defending House seats in suburban New York, where crime was a more immediate concern.
Lessons from London and Stockholm
The unpopularity of the urban toll project in this same suburb was beyond doubt. No less than 63% of voters in the region were “opposed” or “somewhat opposed,” according to a poll conducted by Siena College.
However, these data were not catastrophic in the eyes of Charles Komanoff.
“Hochul ignored the lessons of London and Stockholm,” says the founder of the Transportation Alternatives organization, referring to two European cities that successfully implemented urban tolls.
PHOTO RICHARD HÉTU, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Charles Komanoff
The lesson from London, and especially from Stockholm, is that people are acclimatizing, and even those who continue to oppose it are no longer as angry after the system is implemented.
Charles Komanoff, founder of Transportation Alternatives
Raul Rivera would perhaps never have lost his temper.
“The urban toll is just a maneuver to extract even more money from taxpayers,” he said. As I repeat, this is a crime against New Yorkers. That’s all it is. »
Governor Hochul promised to find, in the short term, a new source of revenue to finance New York subway infrastructure projects. In particular, she suggested increasing the tax on wages that businesses in New York City must pay.
In the meantime, Manhattan has 110 gantries equipped with cameras to read license plates which were installed at a cost of $427 million and which will be of no use for an indefinite period.
PHOTO TED SHAFFREY, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Camera capable of reading license plates installed on West End Avenue in Manhattan
And green organizations across the United States are denouncing in unison the decision of Governor Hochul, who has long boasted of being at the forefront of decarbonization.
“We are deeply disappointed by your sudden decision to postpone this essential policy,” said some of the largest American environmental groups in a letter released on June 18. “This decision will have significant consequences for New York and will reverberate nationally. »
And maybe even international.