It’s been a week since the implementation of congestion pricing in New York City. The entire state of New Jersey fought tooth and nail against the daily $9 fee to drive into Manhattan’s tolled area, and now Jersey City’s mayor, Steven Fulop, is proposing “reverse congestion pricing,” charging New York drivers for entering the Garden State. The idea is just kicking and screaming that Jersey isn’t getting a fair share of the pie.
New Jersey filed a federal lawsuit against New York before the original June start date for congestion pricing last year. The complaint’s crux was that New Jersey wouldn’t see any part of the expected $15 billion torrent of tolls. However, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority offered the Garden State an unspecified percentage. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy shot down any settlement offer in a bid to derail the toll entirely.
New Jersey lost the lawsuit, allowing congestion pricing to go ahead without any revenue sharing, the New York Times reported. The state’s lawyers also intended to appeal the federal court’s decision. Fulop, who’s running for Murphy’s job, wants to force the Empire State back into discussions. He told WNYW:
“I think you need a regional solution and the polling would tell you that people don’t like congestion pricing, so all the politicians take the approach of saying it’s bad. But, if you are reasonable, you need funding for mass transportation. Most people take mass transit; we’re intertwined, New York and New Jersey. You need to have New York at the table and New Jersey has leverage.”
“New Jersey needs to be at the table to garner money, and the way to do that is either by sharing what we have or implementing our own.”
No offense, but charges for access to Newark and Trenton don’t have the same impact as tolling Broadway and Wall Street. When pressed about potentially double-charging New Jersey’s drivers, Fulop implied that they would be exempt from his proposed reverse congestion charges.
Fulop does make a few fair points. Congestion pricing did push more people to take public transportation, and New Jersey should receive a percentage of the tolls to improve its services to the city. However, New Jersey was offered a share and rejected it. Collaboration can’t happen in a state of open conflict.
