Rockland Sues the MTA Over Congestion Toll In Lower Manhattan

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — Rockland County filed a lawsuit over the congestion pricing toll for Manhattan's central business district Wednesday after the program was approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The suit names the MTA and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority as defendants.

The suit, on behalf of the County of Rockland and County Executive Edwin J. Day, seeks an injunction against the new congestion tolls for lower Manhattan.

"We are joining the fight against the Congestion Pricing Plan and its grossly unfair impact on Rocklanders and other west of the Hudson commuters," Day said in an announcement about the suit.

The State of New Jersey, the NAACP and the teachers union are already involved in legal actions against the program.

“The way this is being implemented is unfair and inequitable which is what the lawsuit is about,” said Rockland County Attorney Thomas Humbach.

The Central Business District Tolling Program, also referred to as congestion pricing, affects vehicles entering all parts of Manhattan at or below 60th Street (excluding the FDR Drive, the West Side Highway, and the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel connection to West Street). It is considered a way to ease traffic and reduce air pollution in NYC’s congested business core and as a way to raise $1 billion annually for upgrades to the city’s transit system.

Commuters will pay a $15 per day toll. The toll for trucks would be $24 or $36 depending on their size.

Under the plan, drivers entering Manhattan’s central business district through the Lincoln or Holland tunnels will get a $5 credit for the tunnel tolls they pay, which will then be applied to the congestion pricing toll. Those entering through the Queens-Midtown or Hugh L. Carey (Brooklyn -Battery) tunnels will get a $2.50 credit. Truck credits range from $6 to $20. However, drivers who cross the GWB or MCB across the Hudson River on their way into the congestion zone will get zero discounts.

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

They have said about 4,000 Rockland commuters travel daily into the congestion zone, though they have not said how many are carpooling, etc.

Rockland County lawmakers unanimously adopted a resolution March 13 calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul and the State Legislature to delay commencement of the Central Business District Toll until passage of a state law mandating discounts for drivers entering the city after crossing the Tappan Zee or George Washington bridges.

State Sen. Bill Weber released a statement Wednesday after the toll was approved. "The residents of Rockland County have been shortchanged by the MTA for generations. Congestion pricing is a dumpster fire," Weber said. "Rockland County does not have a one seat ride into the city and many of our residents have to drive into the city. The Senate needs to repeal congestion pricing."

Former State Senator and current State Senate candidate Elijah Reichlin-Melnick also issued a statement, saying, "Today’s MTA vote approving congestion pricing is another slap in the face to Rockland residents. Without exemptions for people from counties without good transit options, congestion pricing is nothing but a regressive tax that burdens middle class and working families most.

"Rocklanders still don’t have consistent and viable public transit options into New York City. Until that happens, this new toll will not reduce traffic coming from Rockland, and will unfairly tax working people up to thousands of dollars per year. We must make significant infrastructure investments west of the Hudson River and Rockland County needs to be exempt from congestion pricing until that investment is completed."

Rockland's legal filing contends that the toll is invalid and should be enjoined because:

• It violates the Equal Protection Clause of the New York State and United States Constitutions by discriminating against drivers from outside the central business district, and in favor of people who garage their cars within the district. Despite individual drivers from both groups adding equally to congestion, people from outside the CBD have to pay a toll and those who garage their cars inside do not have to pay a toll unless they leave and re-enter.
• The toll is an illegal tax. The MTA/TBTA, with their wide portfolio of goals, responsibilities and powers, act as a government in spending the revenues for the general public benefit. This is the hallmark of a tax. The Legislature did not authorize the MTA/TBTA to implement a tax, but only a toll. The New York State Constitution requires taxation authority to be expressly stated by the State Legislature, which it was not. Thus, the toll constitutes an illegal tax and the MTA/TBTA should be enjoined from implementing it.
• The MTA/TBTA failed to properly analyze the possibility of a toll reduction for persons paying the GWB toll or other tolls for transportation infrastructure. This was a duty of the Traffic Mobility Review Board. The MTA/TBTA should be enjoined from charging Rockland residents the toll until this is properly studied.
• Because the toll is implemented to deter people from driving it is subject to the Eighth Amendment prohibition against excessive fines. The toll constitutes an “excessive fine” because, among other reasons, it arbitrarily penalizes an otherwise legal activity, driving in midtown and lower Manhattan. Also, because it is not charged in any scale to the amount of congestion or other factor intended to be deterred by the toll, even very short drives receive the full impact of the toll.

Patch reached out to the County Executive's Office about the money budgeted for the proceeding.

The lawsuits could force the MTA to put major projects on hold, officials there warned. SEE: Congestion Pricing Lawsuits Delaying Subway Projects