The following statement can be attributed to Lisa Daglian, Executive Director, Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA (PCAC):
“Governor Hochul’s decision to pause congestion pricing allows the desires of the few to outweigh the needs of the many. At today’s MTA Board meeting, we learned just what tremendous pain this will mean for transit riders across the region.
“The fact is, you can’t spend money you don’t have. It’s also a fact: the vast majority of New Yorkers of all income strata take transit and will be affected by the disastrous loss of investment in subways, buses and rails that millions use daily. More facts: the climate crisis continues unabated — Air Quality Alert days aren’t being triggered by Canadian wildfires but by our own crummy air — and congestion is only getting worse.
“Yesterday, New York City was named the most congested city on Earth for the second year in a row. Today, Governor Hochul left the MTA Board no choice but to gut the capital program by cutting accessibility projects, signal and station upgrades, new electric buses and train cars, including the power sources to run them, and much-needed improvements to employee facilities. Per Comptroller DiNapoli, the decision to pause congestion pricing opens a $17 billion hole in the MTA budget that riders will see and feel for decades to come. Reinvent Albany reports that over 100,000 New York jobs and tens of billions of dollars in economic activity across the tri-state area are at stake. With record traffic volumes flowing into the CBD and $20 billion lost to excess congestion annually, Governor Hochul’s assertion that Manhattan’s recovery hinges on more traffic defies logic.
“The MTA and Board have been clear: they stand ready to reduce congestion and improve transit once the state gives them permission. Governor Hochul alone has it within her authority to save our transit system and the millions who rely on it across twelve counties from disinvestment and despair. Governor Hochul: Congestion Pricing is the law. Unpause the pause.”
Contact: Lisa Daglian: 917-612-2292, [email protected]