64% NYers Oppose Congestion Pricing, New Poll Finds

NEW YORK CITY — Congestion pricing faces a traffic jam of opposition from New Yorkers before it takes effect this summer, a new poll found.

New York City dwellers oppose the toll plan by a 64 percent to 33 percent margin, according to a Siena College Research Institute poll released Monday.

No single group — whether Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, Black or white — across the Empire State supported charging a $15 toll on most passenger vehicles that enter Manhattan south of 60th Street, the survey of more than 800 registered voters found.

"A majority of Democrats, two-thirds of independents and three-quarters of Republicans oppose the soon expected congestion pricing toll plan, as do approximately two-thirds of downstaters and a majority of upstaters,"
said Steven Greenberg, a pollster for Siena College.

"Nearly one-third of New Yorkers say they will either travel less to Manhattan or find ways other than driving to get there. It will be interesting to see if those positions hold steady once the toll is implemented."

The long-awaited congestion pricing plan is expected to take effect — barring a potential court-related roadblock — in June.

The transit agency's board members, not mention advocates, have touted the tolls as a way to reduce crowding in the nation's most congested district by 100,000 fewer vehicles a day, in addition to supporting $15 billion in MTA projects.

But the tolls evidently don't have wide support among New Yorkers, and not just in the city, according to the Siena poll.

New Yorkers from the suburbs and upstate who said they opposed congestion pricing accounted for 72 percent and 55 percent, respectively, of those polled, according to the poll.

But those New Yorkers also don’t really visit Manhattan.

The poll found 39 percent and 72 percent of suburb- and upstate-dwelling New Yorkers respectively said they "really don’t go to Manhattan."

Joshua Bienstock, a spokesperson for Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free, argued the poll showed Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers need to listen to New Yorkers.

"The taxpayers themselves are being screwed," he said in a statement.