Lawmakers haggle over NYC congestion pricing before budget deadline

State lawmakers still haggling over congestion pricing in New York City weeks before the budget is due.

News 12 Staff

Mar 19, 2019, 4:20 PM

Updated 1,865 days ago

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Lawmakers haggle over NYC congestion pricing before budget deadline
State lawmakers are still haggling over congestion pricing in New York City weeks before the budget is due.
The plan would implement a toll on cars and trucks traveling south of 61st Street in Manhattan during peak hours. It could potentially raise billions of dollars for mass transit. But state Sen. Jim Gaughran says the New York City Council speaker and Mayor Bill de Blasio want to use the money for subways and city buses.
"Unless the funding is going to give appropriate and significant money for the Long Island Rail Road, and for our buses in Nassau and Suffolk counties, I will not be supporting it," Gaughran says.
Aside from raising money, the plan is also designed to discourage vehicles from entering the busiest areas of the city during the busiest times. But businesses such as food distributor J. Kings say the city is too big a market for them to give up, so they'll likely just have to swallow the new cost.
J. Kings distributes food throughout the metro area and sends out 50 trucks a day from its Holtsville headquarters. About a dozen of those trucks go to Manhattan.
Details of the proposal are still being discussed, but the congestion pricing fee is likely to be around $11.50.
The state budget is due by April 1.


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