Long Islanders react with dismay, relief to congestion pricing halt

The day after Gov. Kathy Hochul indefinitely delayed the start of a program to charge drivers to enter Manhattan’s business district, Huntington resident Yaneli Martinez was standing at Penn Station, waiting for the Long Island Rail Road’s Babylon branch and lamenting the eleventh-hour demise of the program.

“It would be good for Long Islanders,” said Martinez, 31, an office manager and one of the over 80% of Long Island daily commuters who ride mass transit into Manhattan. “For me, the congestion pricing would have been good because then the MTA could do all those improvements, and it would alleviate delays and things for us.”

Hochul’s postponement of congestion pricing, years in the planning and set to start June 30, drew a mix of dismay, celebration and cynicism from Long Islanders who grappled with what it all means: no $15 toll for passenger vehicles during peak periods below 60th Street, but also no billions in revenue to improve the mass transit system. About $1.5 billion would have gone for the LIRR.

Union electrician Ian Coplon, 42, regularly rides the train from Massapequa Park into the city, and sees how the transit could have benefited from the boost. But he thinks it’s unfair to charge motorists extra to drive into Manhattan, especially those operating commercial vehicles and others who live far away.

“It was going to screw over people that couldn’t afford it,” said Coplon, who was heading home from a job site downtown.

He’s skeptical that mass transit service will actually suffer without the extra revenue.

“All the time, they say … 'if we don’t do this, service is going to go down,’” he said. “Not that I want to see it to believe it, but I’d rather see it to believe it.”

Massapequa Park was one of the nine LIRR stations slated for accessibility improvements for those with disabilities, using congestion-pricing revenue, which would have also paid for elevator and escalator replacements, improvements to tracks and the power system, bridge repair and new rail cars.

Coplon said the MTA — which is controlled by the governor — should have made tangible improvements to the mass transit system ahead of the congestion pricing rollout, instead of just making future promises.

“If you want to convince people to stop driving and take mass transit, it would make more sense to start fixing it first and let people see: ‘ah, it’s better,’” he said.

Shubraaz Khan, 24, who commutes by rail from Hicksville to a Manhattan law firm where he works as a recruiter, liked how congestion pricing promised to improve air quality by encouraging people to take mass transit. Though Hochul's announcement would save Khan money when he occasionally drives into the city for weekend excursions, he thinks more people should take the train.

“I don’t understand why people drive when there’s a railroad in, like, every town,” he said.

Maryann Stark, who’s in her 70s, said at the Hicksville train station she steadfastly opposes congestion pricing as yet another toll to get into the city.

“They’re bleeding us,” said Stark, who moved to Florida after living in Bohemia for about 50 years and was back on the Island for her grandson’s high school graduation and to visit a sick aunt. She added: “People have to go to work, and they need their cars.”

Lauren Buscemi, a 52-year-old who works a marketing job from home in Commack, worried that Hochul will seek to raise costs elsewhere to make up for the lost revenue. She prefers drivers pay.

“I would like somebody else to foot the bill,” said Buscemi, who said with or without congestion pricing, she’d take the train if commuting into the city.

“The aggravation of driving,” Buscemi said, “there’s not a price on that.”

Rafka Koblence, 76, a jewelry designer from Jericho who commutes into Manhattan sometimes by car, but lately more by train, also believed costs will go up elsewhere to make up for congestion pricing. “It’s gonna be a hole in your pocket either way.”

Congestion pricing’s indefinite postponement will reverberate in countless ways across the region.

The after-school youth sports program run by Rick Lowe, 51, of Greenlawn, had told participants’ families that due to the extra cost posed by congestion pricing, buses would no longer drop kids off south of 60th Street — the border below which the congestion charge would apply.

Although families were willing to pay extra to have their kids, who attend private school, dropped off in the zone, he said, that won’t be necessary anymore, as the program will reverse its plan due to Hochul’s announcement.

Lowe, who is originally from England and was waiting Thursday for a Huntington train at Penn Station, cited the experience with congestion pricing elsewhere in the world, including London, that imposed a charge similar to what New York City was about to.

“Seems to be working in London,” Lowe said. “There’s definitely an upside to it.”