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As New York’s “congestion pricing” inner-city tolling plan takes effect Sunday, one of its major proponents is questioning whether the timing is right for a policy meant to drive people to an increasingly dangerous mass transit system.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s longtime spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, said that Cuomo still backs the system, which will toll drivers $9 to cross below Central Park or enter Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn and New Jersey, but is questioning the timing.
Cuomo’s original plan, which found agreement from then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, was based on a “safe and reliable subway system” and a thriving city core. However, Cuomo’s spokesman said that given the “obvious lack of confidence the public currently has in the subway system – combined with the tenuous state of New York City post-COVID” – the governor calls for a data-driven study on the impact of congestion pricing to inform the timing of the policy change.
Cuomo previously wrote in a March op-ed that congestion pricing’s success hinges on confidence in the MTA and mass transit, which he noted has not recovered from COVID levels. He also noted that it is hard to “incentivize” subway use when people are getting brutally attacked underground, and that it was his father, Gov. Mario Cuomo, who first beefed-up police presence after the “bad old days.”
According to Cuomo’s spokesman, Governor Kathy Hochul appears full-steam-ahead in enacting the policy, which is intended to drive commuters and residents to consider mass transit to head to work or play in Midtown.
However, Cuomo and his spokesman argue that the current state of the subway system, with high crime and homelessness, makes it ill-timed to implement the policy. They also argue that the drops in crime and homelessness seen under Cuomo’s administration were ignored by Hochul when she took office.
The plan has also faced criticism from some Republicans, with Cu Deploy Local offering to join the Center for Security Policy, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, and the Republican State Committee to express their opposition to the plan.