New Jersey sued New York last week to stop Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Manhattan congestion-pricing program, set for next year. New York’s response was to stonewall and mock. But telling neighbors to get lost isn’t good for the state’s post-2020 recovery.
Gov. Phil Murphy’s legal complaint is that New York violated federal law by not sufficiently studying congestion pricing’s impact on New Jersey.
Hochul responded, “Congestion pricing is going to happen.”
Mark Levine, Manhattan borough president, snarked that Jersey is hypocritical, as it has “among the highest tolls in the nation.”
Hypocrisy? This is a guy who is driven around Manhattan— with a subway every few blocks — in an official vehicle.
Whether Murphy succeeds legally, his points are valid: New Jersey will get little — er, nothing — in return for fees its residents will pay, up to $23, to enter Manhattan.
Even if New York credits drivers for Hudson tunnel tolls, still not assured, the extra fee would be $8.
In theory, congestion pricing is sound: People who choose to drive into Manhattan below 60th Street instead of using transit should pay a fee to fund transit.
As some drivers ditch their cars for better transit, remaining drivers benefit, as roads are less clogged.
OK, theory — meet reality. The problem is that New York’s charge won’t reduce congestion in northern New Jersey.
New York’s environmental documents say so: Miles traveled by vehicles within New Jersey “would increase” in “all tolling scenarios, mostly in Bergen and Middlesex Counties, from increased diversions to and from the George Washington Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing” for “trips avoiding the Manhattan [business district] toll.”
Congestion-pricing proponents scoff because the increase is tiny, a fraction of a percent.
But for Bergen, the increase would not be tiny — 1.1%. When you consider that vehicles bunch up at rush hours, so that one extra car for every hundred won’t be spread throughout the day, it’s a big deal.
As for the environment? Because of extra traffic, Bergen — along with The Bronx and Staten Island — will see “increases in all pollutants.”
OK, but what about the transit benefits New Jersey will get? Well, it won’t.
The $1 billion annually that congestion pricing will raise will go to New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
And the state plans a round-the-clock congestion fee, unlike London, which charges only during business hours and weekend middays.
Since there is no congestion most of the time outside those hours, Jersey residents who pay the congestion charge during non-crowded hours won’t benefit from less congestion.
Congestion-pricing proponents argue that most New Jersey residents come in by transit anyway.
In 2019, of the 590,000 people who came in each day from Jersey, 81% came by transit.
But it is not 2019.
As of May, car traffic across the Jersey tunnels into core Manhattan had recovered to pre-COVID levels, with traffic for the first five months of the year 2% above 2019.
Bus traffic, however, was down by 35%, and that doesn’t account for fewer people on each bus. New Jersey transit ridership is less than three-quarters of pre-COVID normal.
That means that though overall commuting to and visiting Manhattan is down, some people who used to come in by transit have switched to car.
It may be for safety — try walking around outside Penn Station — or it may be for convenience.
Pick a random address in New Jersey and map a Google route to Manhattan, and, especially during off-peak hours, it’s faster to drive.
Do we want to deter these people from coming in altogether, whether to work a couple days a week in their office or see a Broadway play?
It’s an especially important question to ask with New York recovering far more slowly than New Jersey.
The Garden State has 4.5% more private-sector jobs than in 2019; the Empire State is still missing more than 0.5% of its pre-COVID jobs, as the city has failed to lead a statewide recovery.
New Jersey residents are already spending more of their income at home, rather than in New York, than they did four years ago.
New York risks tax dollars as well as entertainment dollars: New Jersey commuters pay $4 billion annually in income tax to New York, according to the Empire Center.
Like it or not, we need to keep Garden State commuters and visitors happier than we did in 2019, when the congestion-pricing law passed. Things change, but congestion pricing is frozen in time.
Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute.
