Queensboro Bridge (Fran Fran via Flickr)
Jan. 19, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez
Cars making their way to Manhattan by way of the Queensboro Bridge won’t have to pay the price, so long as they stay above 60th Street, according to Governor Cuomo’s newly proposed congestion pricing plan.
The proposal, created by the state’s Fix NYC panel and released today, focuses on charging passenger cars and trucks entering Manhattan anywhere below 60th Street during certain hours and days. Cars would be charged $11.52 from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, while commercial trucks would pay $25.34 for the same time frame.
But drivers crossing the East River through the Queensboro Bridge would only see a charge if they were to head south into the congestion zone, or the central business district, as the report calls it.
Central Business District, where congestion pricing would be applied to vehicles.
Cars crossing the remaining East River bridges into Manhattan would have no choice but to pay, except for those that immediately take the FDR Drive northbound after crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.
The measure is a change from prior proposals, like Move NY’s, that called for all free East River crossings to be tolled. Cuomo’s plan, instead, aims to move the focus onto Manhattan’s most traffic-congested areas, which have been deemed among the worst in the country. The midtown area, for example, saw an average vehicular speed of 4.7 mph in 2016, slightly faster than walking speed.
“The report accurately points out that the objective is not to raise tolls entering the borough of Manhattan, but more specifically those trips adding to the congestion in a defined central business district,” Cuomo said.
The report anticipates charging only commercial trucks first beginning some time in 2020, and then adding zone pricing to passenger cars. The panel recommends the pricing extension to all vehicles align with the re-opening of the L train tunnel connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan, scheduled for 2021.
A recommendation to charge taxis and for-hire vehicles a surcharge of $2 to $5 per ride was also put forth by the Fix NYC panel. Prior to congestion pricing going into effect, the state also suggests a series of steps, including identifying public transit improvements for the outer boroughs, better enforcing traffic laws within the CBD, and TLC regulation reform.
Cuomo said he will spend the next several months discussing the proposal and alternatives with lawmakers.
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31 Comments
How sad that Cuomo has no feeling for people who will go below 6oth street and have to pay more across the 59th street bridge. It seem politicians are
getting more and more less sympathetic. It is his way of giving to those who give nothing and get it all for free.
It’s now August 2022 and still no tolls have been placed on the 59 street bridge.
When is any tolls expected to arrive?
What about cars going from Manhattan to Queens across Queensborough Bridge in Congesstive Pricing plan?
So if I go over the bridge and head uptown I don’t get charged? I’ll just drive up to 61 st , turn , go to the next ave, turn , and head downtown,,,for free!! Suckers!
You do realize to go back to Queens using the “59th Street Bridge” you will have to go below 60th street? $$$
How much would it cost to connect the Queens Mid Town Tunnel to the Licoln Tunnel, “a big dig” like Boston ? Most drivers are looking to by pass Manhattan. It keeps traffic on the highways except for the tunnels. The vast majority of the project is already built..
Yea sure. Dig from midtown tunnel to the Lincoln tunnel. Someone drug test this guy mike please.
@HaHa- Yours is the new mentality of shooting down everyone else’s ideas while making sure you present none. Classic symptom of an inferiority complex. People laughed at the Boston big dig before and while it happened but now its here and now traffic moves, and for 1.5 miles of the big dig goes through downtown Boston, it moved traffic out of sight and underground. Mike its an option worth looking into and as Boston proved one that can be accomplished.
Out of all those potentially affected, Queens is the biggest loser out of this particular scheme.
(1) No commercial vehicles allowed on most of FDR Drive, so there will be even more of them re-routing to the Queensborough Bridge trying to beat the charges – especially if they have no business to conduct inside the charge zone.
[Hello traffic backups spilling deeper into Sunnyside and Astoria! I’d get comfortable with the concept of longer “rush hours” extending into the weekends.]
(2) The parking situation in neighborhoods along the corridor to the Queensborough Bridge will get worse.
[Sure, neighborhoods like Sunnyside will deal with the brunt of it. But places like Forest Hills are looking attractive too for Eastern/Southern Queens residents and Long Islanders.]
(3) The pièce de résistance: EVERYBODY WILL BE PAYING FOR THIS new congestion charge. Even those who do not own a car or even drive!
Businesses will simply pass through the extra expenses to their customers. And for the small minority that actually do not incur the additional costs, well… our city/state government just gave them a great cover to raise their prices some more.
[P.S.: Once fees/surcharges/taxes/tolls like these start, they only go up in the long-term. Enjoy!]
what really gets my goat is some high percentage of Manhattan apartments are owned by people with multiple homes. They go way out their way to avoid paying taxes to the city. Leaving it to regular folks that own 1 home or less. This toll is just another regressive tax on regular working folks. Whenever they try to install the machines, there shoud be a rally to block them. As well as a 20 fee tacked on the the bill for any of these folks that rely on those of us driving in from Queens to do work for Manhattanites
Go away Mac It’s not 1950. Every bridge should charge
Unfair for the people who ride the bus to have to pay toll also
Take that Cars !!! Always Complaining About Bike Lanes Right Get A Bike And Ride You Lazy People !
Bikes should have to pay, too. They add immeasurably to congestion by flouting all the laws of traffic.
Hey woodside. I work in a suit and tie. I can’t walk into work a sweaty mess . Just shut up. You probably deliver groceries on a bike so it doesn’t matter to you if you look and smell like swine. What about women who need to dress appropriately ? Ride a bike in 90 degree heat or in the rain. Your an idiot.
hahaha- The only idiot posting here is you. What grade are you in? People are having honest discourse on a topic that actually affects their lives, something that you Fox watching idiots in suits don’t understand. Stop insulting people fool.
The phrase is “You’re an idiot.” If you want to post online, try learning basic English. Otherwise, people will dismiss you as illiterate. (Maybe your tie is too tight?)
Yeah, you won’t have to pay if you cross the 59th street above 60th “Per Se”. Ha Ha.
this is great news! time to double prices on everything, from food at farmers markets, supermarkets and restaurants to goods and services, and most definitely rent. no choice. gotta cover costs that businesses incur. oh…you thought the tax payer wouldn’t eventually pay for all this and that businesses would just absorb the cost?
To go upstate, I sometimes use the 59st bridge instead of paying the Triborough toll, onto the FDR, up north. This will work for the time being…but for how long… they are running out of ways of taxing you.. they nickel and dime you to death here…they will eventually get a millionaire tax, then will eventually state that making 100k is to much and needs to be taxed more, lol.
This is a direct tax on the poor and small businesses. The cost of this will be borne by consumers who will pay higher prices because businesses will pass it on to them. You could not invent a more economically stifling policy if you tried. The lower and middle class will continue to flee the city, and economic collapse will be inevitable once no one is left to stock the shelves, deliver food, run a cleaning service, or cook, or make espresso, or tend a bar…
Cheers!
to the “thumbs down” crowd – why am I wrong?
The fewer cars in the city the better.
They’re all idling in the congested bike lanes waiting to turn.
I agree, and hope this leads to less traffic in Sunnyside because of fewer commuters getting off the LIE to drive through our neighborhood to get to the free bridge and avoid the tunnel toll.
This will result in MORE cars taking up street parking in Woodside, Sunnyside, LIC as Long Island drivers park and ride the subway.
We need to forbid non-residents from parking here.
We should eliminate all the free parking and make Sunnyside friendlier to pedestrians. Most of the people who live here do NOT own or even need a car, yet so much of our land is given over to vehicular traffic. Take back our streets!
Put in parking meters then so people can’t do this. Sunnyside/Woodside needs some proper local bus service with dedicated bus lanes going all the way over the bridge.
At least they won’t be speeding through our neighborhood, they’ll be driving around slowly, looking for a place to park. Eventually, they’ll realize there is NO parking available and they’ll leave their cars home & use mass transit. That should be the ultimate goal, to reduce the number of commuters who use their personal cars to get into Manhattan.
Sws how’s the kitty