The congestion toll problem

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has not sufficiently publicized a congestion pricing issue that has a negative impact on Long Island motorists [“Feds OK congestion toll,” News, Nov. 23].

Under the new $9 rate, private cars using the Brooklyn Battery and Queens-Midtown tunnels will receive a $3 credit toward the congestion fee, making their total cost $6 plus the E-ZPass $6.94 charge.

But drivers using the RFK-Triborough Bridge, often the best route crossing the East River, will get no such discount, an unfair situation. If those drivers travel below 60th Street after using the Triborough, they will face a double fee — the regular bridge toll (same as the two tunnels) and the entire congestion fee.

Triborough Bridge drivers should get the same $3 credit given the tunnel users. The Triborough’s highway connections at both ends are superior to the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge links because it has direct access to the Grand Central Parkway, Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and FDR Drive without using local streets.

The Triborough anomaly is in addition to the “toll trap” problem at the Queensboro Bridge, where inbound drivers on the lower deck will pay the congestion pricing fee even if they’re going uptown, away from the zone. Anyone coming from uptown and using the Queensboro Bridge to leave Manhattan on either deck will also pay the fee. Again, unfair.

I am a retired MTA-Long Island Rail Road manager who supports congestion pricing, but I also support logic and fairness in its implementation.

 — Andrew J. Sparberg, Oceanside

Congestion pricing without a highway bypass is the problem. There is no all-highway connection between the Long Island Expressway and Queens-Midtown, Lincoln and Holland tunnels, and the George Washington Bridge. Manhattan needs a direct fast connection between the FDR Drive and the West Side Highway.

We also must widen and fix the connections between the George Washington Bridge and West Side Highway and the FDR to the Cross Bronx Expressway. If everything is connected by highway, all the through-traffic will bypass Manhattan streets, reducing congestion and pollution, while making city streets safer.

— Alan H. Cohn, Nesconset

Restoring congestion pricing, even at 60% of its original cost, is ill-advised. The stated goal is to provide $1 billion in MTA revenue, yet the MTA lost $600  million in 2022 alone due to subway and bus fare evasion. It lost another $44 million from fare evasion on commuter railroads and $46 million in bridge and tunnel tolls from missing or defaced license plates.

Concentrating on eliminating these losses will generate almost 70% of the revenue the MTA says it needs. Stiff fines for fare and toll evaders can generate the rest, and then some. There’s no reason to punish law-abiding citizens with congestion pricing.

The more successful it is at reducing congestion, the less revenue it will generate. If congestion reduction is the goal, then as we do with people’s blocked heart arteries, let’s remove the blockages rather than reduce blood flow.

Restoration of traffic lanes lost to bus and bicycle lanes, restaurant sheds, and parking islands down the middle of avenues will go a long way toward relieving congestion. And maybe add a surcharge for private vehicles registered to Manhattan addresses.

 — Leonard Cohen, Wantagh

President-elect Donald Trump’s election made it more urgent for Gov. Kathy Hochul to lift her pause on congestion pricing before the new administration kills it [“Advocates push for congestion toll before Trump takes office,” News, Nov. 11]. The MTA is counting on congestion pricing to deliver a much-needed $1 billion in annual toll revenue to finance infrastructure upgrades, including crucial ones for the LIRR.

Without this funding, the LIRR risks deteriorating infrastructure, aging cars and declining service. Now is not the time to prolong squabbles over pricing when LIRR fares are higher than congestion pricing fees, nor for Hochul to count on Trump helping out.

 — Alexa Marinos, North Babylon

Kathy Hochul said she is saving us money by charging $9 instead of $15 to enter midtown. Now, if I drive there, I don’t pay a fee. Starting on Jan.  5, I will pay $9. At what school did she learn how to do math?

 — Tom Buonomo, Islip Terrace

So the backers of the politically delayed congestion pricing will encourage New Yorkers to use mass transit. The same mass transit that many riders are frightened to use because of the politicians’ views and laws on justice taking place in the city?

 — Robert D’Addario, Commack

Well, as many predicted, Kathy Hochul waited until right after the election to impose congestion pricing, albeit at $9, which is still too high.

This reminds me of the 1966 Beatles song “Taxman,” which was meant to be a satire: “I’ll tax the street . . . ’Cause I’m the taxman.” Back then, who would have thought this ridiculous notion would ever come to fruition? Yet here we are.

 — Maureen Beyer, Woodmere