This column originally appeared in On The Way, our transit newsletter covering everything you need to know about NYC transportation. Sign up to get the full version in your inbox every Thursday.
The congestion pricing plan approved by the MTA board this week may require 60 days of public review, but New Yorkers shouldn’t expect any major tweaks or changes to the scheme.
Altering the $15 daytime price for drivers who enter Manhattan below 60th Street — or adding more exemptions for drivers — would be like taking a block out of a Jenga puzzle, MTA Chair Janno Lieber said Wednesday, borrowing language from this transit reporter.
“If you change one aspect … the whole thing starts to unravel or fall apart,” said Lieber. “It’s definitely a really complex calculus if you change anything.”
His comment flies in the face of remarks last week from Mayor Eric Adams, who claimed the plan approved by an advisory panel is “the start of the conversation.”
This is all to say, the congestion pricing structure – the $15 base fee, a 75% discount on overnight tolls, and a $5 credit to drivers who cross a tunnel into the tolling zone — is close to fully baked. Any major changes could throw the whole plan out of whack.
That’s because the tolls are required by law to bring in $1 billion a year. Like the bygone flap of a butterfly wing, one small change could have huge consequences.
Lieber said major adjustments to the pricing structure could trigger a “doomsday scenario” that could send the plan back to the Federal Highway Administration for months of review. Still, the MTA is required to hold another round of public hearings about the new tolls and at least entertain the concerns of the public.
“In an ideal world, you wouldn’t mess with [it] too much,” Lieber said. “That said, we are taking the public comment process very seriously.”
While major changes to the toll structure are unlikely, it appeared at the MTA board meeting that officials were taking…
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