As the MTA board prepares to vote on a revised congestion pricing plan Monday, City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli argued the plan will worsen traffic in his home borough of Staten Island.
Borelli, a Republican, pushed back on claims by the MTA that the plan would bring long-term regional benefits, citing high costs of MTA projects that would seemingly only benefit Manhattan.
"Let's look at the top project they put on their own website: the Second Avenue Subway. Second Avenue Subway, $2.5 billion per mile. Let me ask you this: How far over budget do you think they were compared to other cities ... eight times. It cost eight times more to build a mile of subway here in New York as it does in six countries in Europe, that was an NYU study," Borelli said during an interview on "Mornings On 1."
Borelli further argued that congestion pricing would be an unfair cost to borough residents, who mostly rely on the Verrazzano Bridge to access other parts of the city.
"The MTA built us the biggest bridge in New York Harbor: the Verrazzano Bridge. They didn't put a rail line on it. They said, 'You guys on Staten Island, you use your cars.' They did this to us. And now they have the audacity to charge us more for using the only way we have to get to parts of the city," he said.
Borelli also expressed concerns that drivers avoiding Manhattan tolls would reroute to highways like the Cross Bronx Expressway or the Staten Island Expressway, increasing local congestion.
"My constituents on Staten Island, most of them in a distressed community, will get actually more congestion and more pollution. That is not fair to us. That is fundamentally wrong. And that is why we are so vehemently opposed to it," he said.
Last week, the MTA shared data showing that 90% of people traveling to Manhattan's Central Business District-below 60th Street-use public transit. According to the MTA, only around 6,000 people commute by private car daily from Staten Island.
Borelli, however, cited congestion pricing becoming more burdensome over time as his reason to keep fighting.
"The governor has said it's fine to continue raising tolls year after year, year after year," Borelli said. "The rise in the toll is already in the mix for the next five years, the next six years. So it's not $9. It's $9 today, it's going to be $15 by 2028."
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul last week announced the restart of the congestion pricing plan after pausing it in June, weeks before the program was slated to launch.
Borelli also criticized the MTA's handling of transit service on Staten Island, arguing that the agency has neglected the borough, leaving residents with no reliable options other than their vehicles.
"It really is fundamentally unfair when the MTA has failed Staten Island," he said. "Other boroughs, public transit is rising as service improves. Staten Island, public transit is shrinking as service decreases."