A week before congestion pricing would have rolled out in the city, the MTA is set to hold a series of committee and board meetings Monday to determine how planned projects will be impacted.
Transit leaders will discuss which construction projects will be reprioritized, shrunk or scuttled all together because they say many of them were dependent upon the funds congestion pricing would have raised.
The schedule for Monday’s MTA committee meetings is as follows:
- 9 a.m. – Bridges and Tunnels Committee
- 9:30 a.m. – Joint LIRR/Metro-North Committee
- 10:45 a.m. – NYC/MTA Bus Committee
- 12 p.m. – Diversity Committee
- 1 p.m. – Capital Program Committee
- 2:30 p.m. – Finance Committee
Congestion pricing would have imposed a $15 base fare for cars with E-ZPass tags entering Manhattan south of 60th Street, garnering approximately $1 billion a year for the transit authority’s capital investments.
Last week, MTA president of construction and development Jamie Torres Springer said that several plans could be on the chopping block, and work on the 2nd Avenue subway expansion, which had seen progress recently, has been halted.
“There are a lot of projects that we will not be able to build, and we’ll be focusing on state of good repair. We’ll be reporting to the board on that next week. We have, in a couple of cases, issued stop work orders,” Torres Springer said.
Those stop work orders are also expected to include several accessibility projects on the Long Island Rail Road.
The governor, meanwhile, has warned the congestion pricing fee would have imposed an unfair tax on working New Yorkers, during an economically fragile moment.
“How much can we do in state government to relieve the burden and the pain that our citizens are feeling? We cannot be tone deaf to them at this time,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday during an appearance on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” with the Rev. Al Sharpton.
“But my commitment to public transportation is second to none. I orchestrated the bailout of the MTA last year. We will get these projects done and there's other ways to mitigate congestion, but not right now on the backs of hardworking New Yorkers who are just taking it on the chin,” Hochul said.