Working-class New Yorkers cheer congestion pricing’s downfall after Hochul’s stunning reversal
Everyday New Yorkers bid good riddance to congestion pricing after Gov. Kathy Hochul’s shocking announcement that she’ll indefinitely pause the detested toll program.
Rideshare app drivers, salesmen and other working-class New Yorkers crowed to The Post about congestion pricing’s apparent downfall Wednesday.
“Hell yeah!” said Tony Robinson, a self-employed chauffeur, when told about Hochul’s move.
“Put it on hold as long as you can. They were moving too fast with it.”
Robinson, who drives into Manhattan roughly four times a week for work, wasn’t alone in not relishing the prospect of paying a $15 toll starting June 30.
Eli, 32, who buys and sells shoes across the city, said during a delivery to a Pitkin Avenue sneaker store that the toll would cost more than working an hour on the city’s $16 minimum wage, after taxes.
“How do I make money?” he said.
Likewise, Bill Sheehan, 48, said congestion pricing would have unfolded during the toughest business environment in two decades. He said his business, the Complete Aquarium in Bedford Hills, which services salt water reef tanks in Manhattan, couldn’t afford to lose one customer.
“You got all these small businesses at the breaking point and this congestion pricing is taxing the hardest-working people making the least amount,” he said. “I’m really glad to hear that it’s postponed, but I’d be even happier if it was just canceled.”
“I don’t want it,” Chad Leon, a 30-year-old longtime Uber and Lyft driver, told The Post. “I hate it.”
Leon hailed Hochul’s decison, even as he doubted that congestion pricing — for which the MTA installed costly license plate cameras to monitor tolls for cars entering Manhattan south of 60th Street — is actually over.
“I don’t see it going away because the infrastructure is in place for it already,” he said.
Indeed, supporters of congestion pricing vowed the fight isn’t over.
Danny Pearlstein, director of policy and communications for the Riders Alliance, said during a rally outside Hochul’s Manhattan office that the program — which sought to raise $1 billion a year for the MTA — was vital for New Yorkers who ride subways and buses and depend on clean air.
“Congestion pricing is the linchpin of our recovery,” he said.
Sara Lind, co-executive director of Open Plans, was even more blunt. In a blistering statement, she called Hochul’s delay “transparently craven.”
“We hope the Governor is able to recognize this reality, stick to her guns, and abandon the amateur-hour attempt at warding off backlash to a policy that she knows will prove effective,” she said.
Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan
