A plan to toll cars driving in Manhattan south of 61st St. could be bogged down for two more years because of slow-walking by the Trump administration, MTA officials revealed in a financial disclosure form.
The delay could be costly for the already cash-strapped agency.
Central Business District Tolling — better known as congestion pricing — will be run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to fund billions in construction for improvements in the city’s dilapidated mass transit networks.
State legislation passed in April 2019 set the program start at the beginning of 2021. But MTA officials are still waiting for guidance from the Federal Highway Administration on what kind of environmental review process has to be completed to launch the new tolls.
“In light of the delays caused by the absence of FHWA approval, MTA Bridges and Tunnels’ implementation of the CBD Tolling Program could be delayed until 2023,” officials wrote in a disclosure released the day before Thanksgiving.
MTA chief development officer Janno Lieber in July said the congestion pricing launch was already delayed to 2022 due to the lack of guidance; transit officials have pinned hopes on the incoming Biden administration to fast-track the guidance and approval.
“While we’re more hopeful the Central Business District Tolling Program will move forward under a Biden administration, we continue to await clarity from the feds on what type of environmental review will be required that will help determine when the program will be enacted,” said MTA spokesman Ken Lovett.
The MTA has yet to set the price of the tolls and appoint a cost advisory group — the Traffic Mobility Review Board. Though legislation has been passed allowing for toll prices to be made public after Nov. 15, the review board hasn’t been formed.
The delays have also kept MTA contractor TransCore from moving forward with installation of tolling infrastructure and signage to automatically charge the tolls. The company was awarded a $507 million, seven-year contract last year to set up the technology.
The program, which exempts cars driving on the FDR and West Side Highway, is required by state law to generate enough money for the MTA to issue $15 billion worth of bonds over five years — funds that were supposed to pay for construction projects.
But as a result of Gov. Cuomo’s executive order earlier this year, the MTA can now redistribute the money to plug deficits caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The MTA has asked Congress for $12 billion in additional pandemic relief after getting $4 billion through the CARES Act passed in March.
Yet not all of the money the MTA has requested will go toward pandemic-related costs — like the massive drop in transit fares or the $371 million the agency has spent on cleaning contractors. MTA officials said they’re also asking for $1 billion to make up for the delays in congestion pricing.
Transit officials earlier this month warned of 40% cuts in subway service and more than 9,300 layoffs if Congress doesn’t come through with more money.
“The MTA is still pushing for the $12 billion we need in additional emergency federal funding to avoid having to enact a series of draconian service and employee cuts, toll and fare hikes, and a continued freeze of our capital plan,” Lovett said.
