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.
Through a spokesman, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed that he still backs the system that now tolls drivers $9 to cross below Central Park or enter Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn and New Jersey – but questioned whether now is best to implement it.
“Governor Cuomo believes congestion pricing is ultimately the right policy, which is why he fought and succeeded in passing it after more than a decade of failed attempts,” longtime spokesman Rich Azzopardi told Fox News Digital on Friday.
Azzopardi said that 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. Prior Mayor Michael Bloomberg had proposed a similar plan in 2007, but it died in Albany.
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“[G]iven the obvious lack of confidence the public currently has in the subway system – combined with the tenuous state of New York City post-COVID, [Cuomo] called for a data-driven study on the impact of congestion pricing to inform the timing of such a major policy change and to ensure New York was not creating additional obstacles to its comeback.”
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 also statistically still not recovered…
