Congestion pricing scheme is just another pothole on the road to NYC’s ruin

[Kamaji]

Congestion pricing scheme is just another pothole on the road to NYC’s ruin

By Michael Goodwin
June 27, 2023

The headlines make it seem like a good thing by calling it a “plan to reduce traffic in Manhattan.”

Who can be against that?

But a more realistic way to describe the congestion pricing scheme scheduled to start next year is that it’s another nail in the city’s coffin.

At a time when thousands of families have left for safer, cleaner and saner pastures, charging people even more to come to the city amounts to an invitation not to come.

The governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, rightly sees the plan as another big tax on commuters from his state and calls it a “money grab” by New York.

He believes both New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority will be hurt.

A Democrat, Murphy faults the Biden administration for approving the idea and has tried to reason with Gov. Hochul, but, as with her plan to ban gas stoves, she’s impervious to common sense.

Zooming it in
Raising the price of getting here also undercuts the efforts by City Hall and employers struggling to get workers out of their homes and back into their offices.

Most buildings are nowhere near their pre-COVID, full-time population, and congestion pricing will give reluctant workers another reason to Zoom it in.

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/06/27/congestion-pricing-scheme-is-just-another-pothole-on-the-road-to-nycs-ruin/