Here’s something you can count on: when government programs make money, and lots of it, you can expect them to expand.
So you can’t really blame New Yorkers if they’re already leery about how the coming congestion pricing tax program could spread beyond its current boundaries.
The program is currently set to charge drivers a $15 fee if they enter Manhattan below 60th Street. Drivers who use a tunnel on their way to the congestion zone will get a $5 discount.
One of the stipulations of the program is that motorists who drive through the congestion area on the FDR Drive or the West Side Highway will not be charged the fee. You’ll only be dunned if you actually enter the zone.
But now even that’s being called into question.
The New York Post has reported that the MTA has begun installing camera equipment on the highways in anticipation of the start of the congestion pricing program.
License plate readers have been attached to a pedestrian walkway above the FDR Drive at East 25th Street in order to track vehicles that go into the zone or continue on the highway, the paper reported. Sensors are being installed on the West Side Highway for the same purpose.
While the highways are excluded from the toll program, motorists are concerned that the sensors could eventually be used to dun drivers on the highway. A new state law would have to be passed in order for that to happen.
You can’t blame motorists. They’re used to being hoodwinked by New York lawmakers. Just look at New York City’s speed camera program.
Speed cameras at first were installed only in school zones and were operational only during certain hours.
Remember those days, when speed cameras were all about making sure that kids could safely get back and forth to school? And who could argue?
As we all know, speed cameras are now in use across the five boroughs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days as year.
The definition of a “school zone” was expanded to allow for the placement of more cameras. Speed limits were lowered to make it more difficult for drivers to keep within the law.
Mobile speed camera units can now be found in work zones on New York State highways. Millions upon millions of dollars have poured into government coffers.
From small things big things one day come. That’s how it works. The congestion pricing program could very easily follow the same path.
We all know that no matter how much money comes pouring in from the congestion pricing tax, and you can bet that it will be a real windfall, the MTA will always need more. That’s who they are, as they’ve shown us over the decades. They are constantly strapped for cash.
And once that money starts flowing, it’s easy to see the state Legislature giving the thumbs-up for an expansion of the congestion pricing program. After all, what’s better than charging people for absolutely no tangible service? It’s the easiest of easy money.
Plus, it frees lawmakers from having to deal with MTA funding issues. They’ve got their congestion loot, they’ll say. Let them figure out how to spend it. We did our job.
Win-win!
And just wait until congestion pricing is expanded to boroughs other than Manhattan.
Just a thought.
Camera installations on NYC highways rightly make us leery of congestion pricing expansion (opinion)
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25.01.2024
Here’s something you can count on: when government programs make money, and lots of it, you can expect them to expand.
So you can’t really blame New Yorkers if they’re already leery about how the coming congestion pricing tax program could spread beyond its current boundaries.
The program is currently set to charge drivers a $15 fee if they enter Manhattan below 60th Street. Drivers who use a tunnel on their way to the congestion zone will get a $5 discount.
One of the stipulations of the program is that motorists who drive through the congestion area on the FDR Drive or the West Side Highway will not be charged the fee. You’ll only be dunned if you actually enter the zone.
But now even that’s being called into question.
The New York Post has reported that the MTA has begun........
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