Mayor Bill de Blasio continued his multi-day push for congestion pricing on Tuesday — lugging out a giant $15 billion check representing the money the tolls would raise while accusing the state-run MTA of dragging its feet as New York City traffic gets worse.
De Blasio — who last week chose Sherif Soliman to serve on the committee that will set the tolls — said the MTA was “not acting” despite having received the go-ahead from the Biden administration.
“What’s happening with congestion pricing? When you look at the state of New York, when you look at the MTA, you hear the sound of crickets, because nothing is happening,” he said. “The state, the MTA are not acting. They’re not naming members, they’re not calling the meeting, they’re not moving the process.”
The comments marked the third time in the last week Hizzoner touted congestion pricing, which he refused to support until MTA finances hit the toilet in 2019.
He also cited a recent Post report about New York’s worst-in-the-nation traffic.
De Blasio lugged out a giant $15 billion check to talk about congestion pricing. NYC Mayor's Office“New Yorkers are spending too much time in their cars stuck in traffic. That’s not the way we want they want to live,” the mayor said. “Once we have congestion pricing, we’re going to help to stop the gridlock and help New York City to move around and get $15 billion coming to fix the subways once and for all.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo passed congestion pricing in 2019 to raise $15 billion over four years for mass transit. Tolls were scheduled to start this year but stalled when President Donald Trump’s administration declined to give it the go-ahead.
The Federal Highway Administration finally green-lit the tolls in March — allowing the MTA to proceed with a shorter environmental review of the program.
Transit officials have said little publicly about congestion pricing since the FHWA’s decision. A rep for the MTA said last week that the feds require “robust public outreach,” and that the authority is “early into that process.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio accused the state-run MTA of dragging its feet as New York City traffic gets worse. Getty Images“There is a federally-required process. The MTA is following that detailed process which doesn’t allow arbitrarily cutting corners,” MTA spokesman Ken Lovett said in a statement on Tuesday.
“An Environmental Assessment is complicated and we are working through issues with the Federal Highway Administration and our partners at the New York City and New York State Departments of Transportation.”
