Contact the weak authority.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is concerned that the new $9 congestion charge to enter Midtown Manhattan will actually reduce traffic — and revenue — on the Hudson River Bridge and tunnel crossings.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — overseen by appointees from Murphy and New York Governor Kathy Hochul — generates more than $2 billion in revenue from its tolls, which include the Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel and George Washington Tunnel.
“As you know, New Jersey has significant concerns about New York and the D.C. Authority's congestion pricing program,” Murphy said in the letter to Authority Chairman Kevin O'Toole.
“Please allow this letter to serve as a formal request for statistical information regarding the impact of New York's congestion pricing scheme on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.”
Murphy requests the total bridge and tunnel crossings and total number of passenger vehicles for January and each month to advance the implications for congestion pricing. “
The letter comes after a number of congestion subsidies were introduced for drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street.
Jersey drivers crossing Holland or Lincoln now have to pay the tunnel toll plus the congestion toll – with a $3 discount for the double toll.
The authority relies on its own revenues to maintain its crossings and support other key programs, such as track trains for New Jersey commuters to reach Manhattan and a planned Midtown Bus station.
The authority also has tolls on roads that connect the New York State Park through Staten Island – Bayonne Bridge, Goethels Bridge and Burbridge.
A PA spokesman said it would provide Murphy's office with traffic data moving forward.
“Tolls represent the interstate transportation infrastructure that keeps our region moving,” PA spokesman Seth Stein said.
“These revenues allow us to make once-in-a-generation capital investments that transform key assets, including the top-to-bottom rehabilitation of the George Washington Bridge, the complete replacement of the downtown bus station, and a comprehensive overhaul of the track, signals, signals, and stations into the system.” “path.”
Danny Perlstein of the Cyclist Alliance, a mass transit advocate who supports the toll, said Murphy raises a “fair point” regarding transit and toll revenue in PA.
But he expects any reduction in PA revenue to be minimal and that the reduction in traffic and congestion so far has been a good thing.
“Murphy is looking at this issue from a helicopter and not seeing what is happening on the ground,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hochul said on Wednesday that the congestion count so far has been successful in reducing congestion and speeding up traffic in the city centre.
“It doesn't advertise the mission,” she said during an interview with NY1 that it “works” as intended.
Following Murphy's request, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (Restatement Island/Brooklyn) sent a letter to President Trump on Thursday—co-signed by two dozen elected officials—urging him to reverse the federal government's approval and kill the congestion count.
Trump opposes losses.
Signatories included Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon and Borough President Vito Fossella.
