Tag: Manhattan

New congestion pricing will lead to cars being charged up to $27 total to cross into Manhattan during the day with van and truck drivers facing even higher costs — and firefighters, teachers and ordinary workers say they simply can’t afford it.

As The Post’s map shows, the cost of entering the congestion zone, defined as entering Manhattan anywhere on 60th Street or below, in a car from Jan. 5 will be significantly higher —between $9 and $20 with an E-ZPass and $13.50 to $27 without — when added to the fare for crossing by tunnel or some bridges.

Business owners warn the deeply unpopular charge — forced through by Gov. Kathy Hochul and not voted for by any New Yorker — will affect everyone in the city, as they will be forced to pass on their increased costs to customers.

Currently over 700,000 vehicles enter the congestion charge area in Manhattan daily, according to the Metropolitan Transport Authority, traveling at an average of just 7 mph. With the congestion charge, the authority thinks it can reduce that number by around 100,000 vehicles.

Small trucks such as delivery vehicles will pay a congestion toll around $5 higher during peak periods. Large trucks and tour buses will pay a congestion charge of $21.60 alongside any bridge or tunnel costs during peak periods, defined as 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.

Those riding in the city’s yellow taxis will also face increased charges, with $2.50 added to any trips which “begin, end or pass through Manhattan south of 96th Street,” for congestion pricing.

It’s yet another major blow to those grappling with the high cost of living in New York — already the third-most expensive city in the world, according to a recent survey by the Economist.

Small business owner: Larry Zogby

Delivery service companies are facing an eye-watering increase in costs and expect to be among the hardest hit by the congestion prices, according to several sources who spoke to The Post.

While a cap of one charge per day applies to cars and motorbikes, trucks, vans and buses will be charged for every crossing into the congestion zone, according to the MTA.

RDS Delivery Service president and CEO Larry Zogby claimed congestion pricing will cost his business, run out of Long Island City in Queens to all New York boroughs, more than a million dollars annually.

“Nobody I speak to in business can absorb this, so they’re going to take it and pass it right on,” he told The Post.

“It’ll be my second-biggest cost behind payroll, at over $1 million pushed to the customer.”

The company’s drivers enter the congestion zone more than 40,000 times a year to deliver everything from medical specimens and pharmaceutical supplies to food for senior citizens, according to Zogby.

Congestion pricing is aimed at reducing traffic and encouraging people to use public transport, those in favor claim.

The money raised via the tolls will primarily be used to upgrade the city’s decaying subway system and buses, according to the MTA.

But Zogby claims the entire plan is “a sham” and says “everyone is swimming in the same s—t.”

“It’s a money grab,” he said.

“They don’t consider small commercial businesses with trucks and vans. More thought should have been put into this.”

There are 10 lawsuits pending against the toll program in federal and state courts in New York and New Jersey.

“People … need to brace themselves and be prepared for the impact,” Zogby said, adding: “Because it’s the customer who gets screwed.”

Firefighters

An FDNY probationary firefighter, who spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity, said the general consensus among his colleagues is that they’re “being taxed to work” in Manhattan.

“I would normally drive into work but the expense is a lot more than I expected.

“Very few people in my academy class wanted to get assigned downtown because of congestion pricing but we don’t get to pick where we go.

“It’s a large portion of my pay and an unfair cost.”

While the source said he will no longer drive his car into Manhattan to carry out his job, there are no reasonable alternatives, according to him.

“If I take the train into work from Long Island, I frequently get sent to another firehouse as that’s part of the job, but I won’t be bringing in my car anymore because of the expense, so I’d have to walk with 40 to 60 pounds of gear or take an Uber,” he said.

“In your firehouse, you have your own locker, so it’s stored there, so if you get reassigned to another firehouse or sent across town, you have to take all of that with you. Every day a couple hundred FDNY firefighters are reassigned to another firehouse to fill in as needed.

“Pants, jackets, boots and helmet are a minimum of 45 pounds for a small person. Then you have your own personal tools: screwdriver, wrench, hose wrench. You also have to be prepared to decontaminate after a fire, so have to bring your toiletries and a spare set of clothing, towel, soap and shampoo.

“All of these things going to have to be carried from one point to another and when the weather is bad, like in a blizzard, or the city is jammed by traffic — how are we supposed to get from point A to point B?”

The Big Apple’s firefighters’ union boss anticipates the pricing will have a catastrophic effect on the city’s firefighters, who use their own cars to move themselves and their work equipment between their homes and various firehouses.

“A huge portion of city fire are going to be lugging 80 pounds of gear on subways to get from one firehouse to another because they can’t bring their own vehicles in anymore,” FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York president Andrew Ansbro told The Post.

“The equipment is covered in dangerous carcinogens that are unsafe to carry on public transit. 

“And the last thing any New Yorker wants is a firefighter who is worn out before they even get to work when you then need them to come and save your life.”

The firefighters union has called on the MTA to exempt members from paying the $15 toll when driving their personal cars to firehouses within the zone below 60th Street. 

But it has so far been unsuccessful, with the MTA putting the onus on the FDNY to provide company cars to employees who need them or reimburse their work expenses for required travel.

“The law is clear, personal vehicles are not considered emergency vehicles,” Ansbro continued.

“If the FDNY were to designate emergency vehicles, that would solve the problem, or we would have to work something out with members to reimburse them for using their own vehicles, but for now it leaves New York firefighters at a great disadvantage.”

Brooklyn plumber: Paul Belli

Paul Belli, a small business owner in Brooklyn, said he’s also concerned about the ripple effect.

“Everyone I know in the plumbing industry is planning on passing the cost along to the customers by increasing prices or adding a surcharge, which is what we’re going to have to do as well,” he told The Post.

Belli, president of Franco Belli Plumbing, said he and his team are called to jobs all over the city.

The company’s plumbers use cars that are all fitted with E-ZPasses paid for by the employer. So it’s Belli’s small, family business started by his late father in 1974, and others like it, that will ultimately feel the pinch of congestion pricing.

“We go where people need plumbing work done. I get calls to Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx,” Belli, who is also the company’s licensed master plumber, explained.

“The congestion pricing increase is going to cost the business hundreds of dollars extra a week and we need to be able to make that back somehow, so it’s going to be added to the bills of people we service in that part of Manhattan.”

School teacher: Paul Caminiti

Paul Caminiti regularly commutes from his home in Staten Island to the East Village, where he works as a teacher. He drives to and from the school each day because the trip is 40 minutes each way by car compared to 90 minutes on public transport, according to him.

“[I pay] about $13 a day, sometimes $20 to get from Staten Island to the East Village with no real reliable buses or trains to get to,” he told The Post.

“Now we’ll have to pay extra because of an idiot governor. She clearly can’t read a room. Nine dollars is too much … I will not vote for her or any other idiot that goes for congestion pricing.”

Congestion pricing exists in several other major cities worldwide, including London, Milan and Singapore.