Roosvelt Island tram passes congestion pricing camaers.
{Photograph} by Dean Moses
Elected officers reacted Sunday to evaluations that President Donald Trump was considering federal intervention to stop congestion pricing solely a month after it began.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Queens state Sen. John Liu, whereas attending a Feb. 2 press conference on battling Trump’s makes an try and freeze federal funding, talked about ending congestion pricing now would have a devastating affect in town along with the MTA.
Congestion pricing began on Jan. 5 and the tolls charged to drivers entering into Manhattan south of sixtieth Avenue are anticipated to reap as a lot as a billion {{dollars}} in annual earnings for the MTA to utilize in bettering most people transit system. This funding is essential, Liu talked about, to completely funding the MTA’s five-year capital plan anticipated to cost $65 billion, nevertheless for which solely $32 billion has been presently funded.
“This is not for fancy stuff,” Liu talked about. “This is basic transit maintenance.”
“This is not for fancy stuff,” Liu talked about. “This is basic transit maintenance.” {Photograph} by Dean Moses
Liu talked about Sunday that he expects Trump to attempt to stop congestion pricing — and if the president does, it would jeopardize the long-term properly being of the city’s transit system.
“IWhat that does is eliminate a billion dollars of annual revenue, which equates to $15 billion of the capital program, and so it’s not only potentially removing the $14 billion that the MTA is already expecting but removing another $15 billion that’s already baked into the current plan. So, this is really devastating,” Liu talked about.
Liu talked about the money was anticipated to pay for model new subway autos, new buses, station repairs, along with making them handicap-accessible and, implanting safety upgrades and placing in new follow indicators.
“We’re still relying on copper wires,” he well-known.
Gillibrand recognized that the subway tunnels moreover require resiliency funding following superstorm Sandy in 2012 that left them flooded and inoperable, leaving 1000’s stranded.
“We desperately need these upgrades. And how many people rely on mass transit every day? Millions, millions, and if our transit goes down, millions can’t get to work,” Gillibrand talked about.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks all through a Dwelling Republican members conference meeting in Trump Nationwide Doral resort, in Miami, Florida, U.S. January 27, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Whatever the money being garnered for repairs and the affect the tolling has had on liberating up roadways, most drivers New York Information Metro has spoken with as a result of it was carried out ultimate month say they need it in no way had the inexperienced light to start out with.
“It really pisses me off,” John Saffir talked about, who stopped on the Increased East Facet to share his grievances with New York Information Metro. “It’s a scam. I’m not against it for passenger vehicles during rush hour, you know, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. or something like that. But this is such bullshi*t.”
