Trucking industry leaders continue to speak out against New York City’s Congestion Pricing program, which charges motorists — including truckers — to drive below 60th street and into the busiest part of the city.
Last month the Department of Transportation gave the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority until Friday to end the tolling program, which was started to reduce congestion and em issions, and also raise money for the city’s transit system.The MTA said it will continue the tolls regardless of the deadline.
Today, two trucking industry leaders wrote to the U.S. Department of Transportation to reiterate their support for the Trump Administration’s termination of the tolling, which they said punishes “hard-working truckers who make essential deliveries to Manhattan businesses and residences.”
In their letter to USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy, American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear and Trucking Association of New York President Kendra Hems detailed their opposition to New York’s tolling policy and reinforced why DOT is fully justified in seeking to end the tolling program, including through legal means if necessary.
“The congestion pricing scheme was clearly designed to discriminate against trucks,” Spear and Hems wrote. “Unlike passenger vehicles, there is no viable alternative for trucks that must operate in the congestion zone to deliver the essential freight relied upon by businesses, the hospitality industry, and health care facilities, to name a few.
“The result is higher prices for everyone living, working in, and visiting the city, with the potential for significant job losses,” Spear and Hems continued. “We would like to thank you for your efforts to halt this ill-conceived, discriminatory scheme. We encourage USDOT to take all necessary steps to ensure that New York’s application of tolls is consistent with the Constitution and federal statutes.”
Earlier this year, New York implemented the first-in-the-nation zone pricing tolls on vehicles entering Manhattan below 60th Street. While passenger vehicles pay a $9.00 daily fee that provides them with unlimited passage into the zone (a requirement of New York State law), trucks pay up to $21.60 each time they enter the zone.
The Value Pricing Pilot Program New York is operating under was created by Congress for the express purpose of demonstrating the potential for variable tolls to influence travel behavior, yet toll rates under the Manhattan program were clearly established primarily to meet a financial target. Moreover, 100 percent of the revenue is dedicated to funding transit improvements, with none of the money going toward fixing the city’s decrepit roads and bridges, according to the trucking associations’ letter.
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber has said the federal government does not have the power to stop the tolling without an injunction, and none has been issued.
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