Critic of New York’s congestion pricing plan dismisses vague funding promise as ‘crumbs’

One of the loudest critics of New York City’s congestion pricing plan scoffed at a transportation official’s promise this week that New Jersey will get a bit of the billion dollars it’s expected to generate annually.

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5) said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is merely “throwing some crumbs to Jersey” when MTA CEO Janno Lieber said Wednesday that New Jersey will get “its share, exactly on the arithmetic” of the hiked tolls to offset the harms expected when drivers dodging the impacted zone clog North Jersey roads.

“What we saw from the MTA is nothing new. Throwing some crumbs to Jersey doesn’t fix the fact that they’re planning to whack hardworking families with a $15-a-day, $4,000-a-year Congestion Tax,” Gottheimer said.

Lieber’s comments come as the region awaits a ruling by the federal judge presiding over New Jersey’s lawsuit to stop the plan, which would boost tolls on Manhattan’s busiest roads by up to $15 for cars and $36 for trucks, with lower tolls during off-peak times. Critics want the court to vacate the final approval the U.S. Federal Highway Administration gave the plan last June and order a “full and proper” environmental impact review, as federal law requires.

A federal judge heard arguments in the case earlier this month and is expected to rule by mid-June, when the new tolls are set to start.

Gottheimer has long blasted the plan and did so again Thursday.

“The MTA ignored the tens of thousands of families who begged them not to pollute our children. It’s only right that the federal government ensures there is a full environmental review before they whack Jersey families with the cancer-causing Congestion Tax,” he said.

Lieber, who spoke at a business breakfast in Manhattan, declined to detail how much funding New Jersey can expect, saying only it would be determined “by the number of people who are in areas impacted by initial truck traffic.”

The agency will spend millions to mitigate pollution in New York neighborhoods where local traffic is expected to worsen because of motorists detouring from the congestion pricing zone, which starts at 60th Street and runs south.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Phil Murphy, another congestion toll critic, declined to comment.