Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a Democrat, is running for governor of the Garden State, and he wants to start congestion pricing on his side of the river as well.

“I think that congestion pricing is a good thing for the environment, for mass transit,” Fulop said.

What You Need To Know

  • Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop says New Jersey should have worked with New York on a regional solution that would have benefitted transit in both states, whose economies are intertwined

  • Fulop says Gov. Phil Murphy missed an opportunity to get money from New York for transit, but could instead implement a congestion toll for New York drivers entering New Jersey

  • Transit advocates say New Jersey is the most heavily tolled state in the country and should put more of that money into transit, but does support any toll that reduces congestion and pollution

Fulop suggests putting gantries on roads like Route 17, Interstate 287 and US 9W.

“Outerbridge Crossing. Yeah, sure. Of course, you know, you have an entry point between Manhattan, Staten Island,” Fulop said. “There’s plenty.”

New Jersey still has its suit against congestion pricing outstanding. Though two courts’ refusals to delay the program signaled that the state may lose its case. Fulop says it didn’t have to be that way.

“We’re intertwined. And I think that the biggest missed opportunity for New Jersey has been that we are not benefitting financially,” he said. “I think Phil Murphy made a huge mistake in pursuing this legally and taking a hardline political response of no, as opposed to figuring out how to improve mass transit in New Jersey by getting hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Fulop would have liked to have seen the Garden State negotiate a deal with New York. And, according to sources, New York was willing to pay millions for transit to New Jersey. In response to Fulop’s proposal, transit advocates in New York say New Jersey already tolls its highways.

“New Jersey should be applying the revenue from its existing tolls to support public transit to a greater degree than it does,” Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director with Riders Alliance, said. “New Yorkers pay massive amounts of tolls to the Turnpike Authority and the Port Authority.”

Pearlstein says despite that, congestion pricing in New Jersey is a good idea. Meanwhile, New York’s tolls could be benefiting Jersey City, which experiences backups at the Holland Tunnel.

“The first couple days have been great but that could be just people on vacation. That could be a lot of different things that contribute to that,” Fulop said.

NY1 reached out to Gov. Phil Murphy’s office for a response to the tolling proposal but have not heard back.