MTA's Manhattan congestion pricing program is launching prematurely
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is set to launch its congestion pricing program on June 30. The first of its kind in the U.S., the congestion pricing program appears set to begin even as lawsuits — including one filed by Rockland County Executive Ed Day — play out. The rush to start congestion pricing violates an open public participation process.
Unfortunately, this action negatively reinforces the installation of the electronic charging stations by the MTA before the program was even heard. The MTA should have waited until mid-September to install the charging stations — and only then if all legal and other related issues were resolved.
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Rockland commuters and northern New Jersey residents already have to pay excessive tolls to cross the George Washington Bridge. An additional proposed charge of $15 to travel south of 60th Street in Manhattan will further drain the budgets of citizens who do not benefit from the MTA transit services. It's a form of taxation without representation.
Floyd Lapp, New City
The writer has 55 years of city and transportation planning experience and was the director of transportation for the New York City Planning Department in the 1990s.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: MTA congestion pricing is premature
