Rockland County Exec Seeks Exceptions For NYC Congestion Pricing

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — As New York City's congestion pricing plan got a green light from the federal government, Rockland County Executive Ed Day continues to beg state officials to slow down a minute and consider its impact on his residents.

"Rockland County residents face the highest level of transit inequity in the MTA region including a transit desert that forces more than 60% of our residents to drive into the city because they have no other way to get there," Day said Tuesday in a statement. "You are forcing these residents - which include cops, firefighters, and others – to pay more simply for using their own vehicle to avoid being stranded by the current inadequate transit system."

After a years-long, hard-fought battle, the approval announced Monday effectively clears the lane for an MTA panel to set tolls to enter Manhattan below 60th Street — and could prove to be transformative for public transit, traffic and the air itself in the city, officials said.

The tolls likely will range from $9 to $23.

Congestion pricing has long been a goal of MTA officials and environmentalists, albeit a controversial one.

Supporters argue that it will cut down on carbon emissions, pollution and reduce traffic by 20 percent in the densest parts of the city. It also will raise $1 billion a year for the MTA, they project. Opponents, including officials in Rockland County and New Jersey, have decried tolls as unfair to commuters.

Day said Tuesday he felt Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA Chair Janno Lieber made it thing clear in their announcement — that Rockland County commuters continue to be an afterthought in the congestion pricing conversation, with much emphasis placed on improving life in New York City and little regard for the tax-paying members of the MTA outside the city.

"It is an insult to families who are already struggling to keep up with high gas prices and record-breaking inflation," he said. "Rockland County residents should be exempt from congestion pricing tolls based on our $40 million value gap with the MTA, which no other member of the MTA has, or at minimum be credited for the river crossing tolls we already pay to enter Manhattan, including the George Washington Bridge and the Tappan Zee Bridge, with a discounted rate for entering the congestion pricing zone."

The value gap — meaning residents pay more than the county receives in transit service and funding — equates to over $400 million in the past decade. Since the last formal study, the MTA has made zero improvements to the Pascack Valley Line rail service schedule and just one significant capital improvement, the Nanuet Train Station platform and shelter, Day said.

Rockland officials have been fighting for years to defeat or at least modify the congestion pricing plan.

The federal approval effectively guarantees congestion pricing will go forward, but MTA officials still need to decide final tolls and when it'll begin.

Patch Staffer Matt Troutman contributed to this report.