A New York transportation agency voted Wednesday to indefinitely halt congestion pricing in Manhattan, which had been set to start June 30, after the state’s governor led the action.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted to end the program and is now considering major cuts to capital projects.
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a report Tuesday that an estimated $17 billion will need to be removed from the current $55.4 billion transit capital plan to address the loss of revenue from congestion pricing.
The MTA has already canceled contracts and halted work on a major subway expansion project, saying it could jeopardize federal grant funding.
Before voting, MTA board members were told that $16.5 billion in capital projects would have to be postponed, including major expansion projects such as expanding the Second Avenue Subway and upgrading aging signaling systems and rail cars.
Governor Kathy Hochul cited high inflation and a desire to prevent commuters or tourists from choosing not to visit because of the added costs in her decision to halt implementation.
New York City’s congestion pricing program, the first of its kind in the U.S., would have imposed a $15 toll during the day on vehicles traveling south of 60th Street in Manhattan. London introduced a similar tax in 2003.
MTA has said the fee would reduce traffic by 17%, improve air quality and increase transit use by 1% to 2%, as well as generate $1 billion to $1.5 billion a year and $15 billion in debt financing would support public transportation improvements.
In 2019, state lawmakers approved the plan to help fund public transportation improvements by using tolls to manage traffic in New York City, the busiest of all U.S. cities.
Congestion pricing was expected to start in 2021, but the federal government under President Donald Trump took no action.
New York says more than 900,000 vehicles enter the Manhattan Central Business District every day, reducing travel speeds to an average of about 7 miles per hour.