KILLING THE GOLDEN GOOSE

Democrats in NJ Join Trump in Anti-Congestion Pricing Jihad

Why are Governor Phil Murphy, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, and some other Democrats waging a legal jihad against New York’s eminently reasonable congestion pricing program?

By all measure, the program is the right thing to do: it reduces traffic jams, speeds up commute times, helps clean the air, and provides billions of dollars to mass transit. Has Murphy paid attention to the fact that New York Governor Kathy Hochul has said that if Murphy relents, she’s made what she calls “very generous offers” to New Jersey in a settlement? “I wish I could describe them to you, because you would say they're generous,” she told reporters. “I'm not at liberty to do that.” (According to one report, Murphy’d be turning down a nine-figure payment that could be used to bolster the struggling NJ Transit system.) And Politico NY reported that New York’s offer included a commitment to pay $500 million towards the cost of a new Port Authority building in New York.

“It does not feel like [he’s negotiating] in good faith at this time,” Hochul said.

“Inquiring minds want to know, how much did you lose, Governor Murphy, in not settling the case,” John Reichman told The New Jersey Democrat. Reichman represents 34 New Jersey environmental and grassroots organizations who filed an amicus brief opposing Murphy’s position and supporting congestion pricing. The coalition includes EmpowerNJ, New Jersey Policy Perspective, Unitarian Universalist Faith Action NJ, Newark Green Team, Health Professionals and Allied Employees, the New Jersey Working Families Party, New Jersey Citizen Action, and SOMA Action.

Nevertheless, unable to persuade three courts to halt New York’s congestion pricing programs, Murphy this week prostrated himself before President Trump, pleading for his help in stopping the program. The program, a surcharge on people who drive into Manhattan’s central business district, went into effect on January 5.

Murphy and Trump: an odd couple, for sure. Originally, Murphy planned to make a pilgrimage down to Trump’s inauguration, where he could plead his case about congestion pricing in person, but he had to skip it because of the snowstorm. So, instead Murphy sent him a letter. In it, the governor told Trump that “they shared significant concerns” about the New York plan. He played up Trump’s misogynist attack on Hochul, reminding the billionaire that he had called congestion pricing “the worst plan in the history of womankind.” Murphy said the state will continue fighting congestion pricing in court, but asked Trump to take a close look at it because Trump had promised to “terminate it in my first week.” (Nearly a week into his presidency, he hasn’t.)

And it’s not only Murphy. A number of candidates running to succeed him as governor have joined the crusade, especially Bergen County’s Gottheimer, who’s held a stream of press conferences with the George Washington Bridge in the background. Sherrill, former State Senate President Steve Sweeney, and Sean Spiller, president of the NJEA, have also criticized it, ignoring the plan’s obvious benefits, perhaps instead cynically following polls showing that many New Jerseyans don't like it (but probably don’t understand it).

But Murphy has led the charge. As his point guard he’s hired none other than Randy Mastro of King and Spalding to wage his legal war. Mastro has already billed the state $1.1 million dollars, according to documents obtained by the New Jersey Monitor, through December. (He’s the selfsame Mastro who played a key role in whitewashing former Governor Chris Christie’s role in the Bridgegate scandal. He was paid handsomely for an internal “investigation” of the affair that ultimately cleared Christie of any knowledge of it.)

This summer Mastro was New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ pick to be that city’s top lawyer, but pulled his name from consideration when he couldn’t convince the City Council he shared their values. He was also Deputy Mayor of New York under Rudy Giuliani. Helping Mastro fight congestion pricing is Craig Carpenito, who was Christie’s personal lawyer during Bridgegate.

Besides ignoring good policy for opportunistic politics, exactly why Murphy is trying so hard to defeat congestion pricing is not clear. The only people his jihad might benefit are a small number of the more affluent people in North Jersey who commute into the city, but who really won’t feel much pain from the costs.

In his letter to Trump, Murphy claimed that “the resulting congestion pricing plan is a disaster for working- and middle-class New Jersey commuters and residents who need or want to visit lower Manhattan.”

That statement is wrong on many levels. Nearly three-fourths of people who regularly commute from New Jersey into New York City use public transportation. The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council found that of the 421,984 people entering New York from New Jersey on a typical fall business day in 2022, only 119,498 came in cars, taxis or trucks. And many of those commuters use New York’s subways and buses to complete their trips, and will benefit from the billions of dollars the congestion pricing plan will generate that is earmarked for improvements in in New York’s public transit system.

A very small number of these commuters are actually poor. But there is a significant discount for people earning under $50,000 as well as for those with disabilities who must drive and those using E-Z pass.

In fact the median income for New Jersey residents who drive into Manhattan for work is $107,996, while it is $88,407 for transit users, according to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. They also found that in Rep. Sherrill’s congressional district only 1.4 percent of commuters will incur a congestion price fee.

It’s no secret that it is already very costly to drive into New York from New Jersey, given high parking fees and existing tunnel charges and gas costs, and a few extra dollars are not that likely to be very noticeable to those that already can afford the drive. They will also find it much easier to drive in given the already evident reduction in traffic. After all, that’s a big reason for the program in the first place.

Most of those that find congestion pricing a burden will switch to buses, trains, and carpools – saving them money on river-crossing tolls and expensive Manhattan parking lots. That in turn will increase revenues to New Jersey Transit, which sorely needs it to improve its system.

Murphy also complained to Trump that New Jersey communities were not being adequately compensated for the added pollution that might happen in such areas as the G.W. Bridge because cars will seek to avoid the extra toll by entering the city’s northern end.

By all accounts, congestion pricing is working, and working well. In its first week, according to the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the number of cars entering lower Manhattan fell by nearly 8 percent, with 219,000 fewer vehicles entering the zone from Monday to Friday. Inbound river crossings saw a 30 to 40 percent decrease in travel times, and traffic moved more quickly along Manhattan streets and avenues, with travel times on Manhattan’s east-west streets improving by as much as one-third or more. Bus speeds in Manhattan improved substantially.

At the Holland Tunnel, travel times fell 65 percent, and at the Lincoln Tunnel, 39 percent.

The New York Post and other outlets opposed to congestion pricing have raised spurious claims that, for instance, New Jersey residents who want to attend a Broadway show will be deterred by the congestion pricing system. Well, according to the Broadway League, nearly three out of four people who attend a Broadway show either live in New York City or are visiting as tourists, and the average household income of a suburban ticket buyer for a Broadway show is $294,000 – so they can spare the extra bucks. “The average ticket price for a show is $161.20, meaning if four New Jersey residents get in a car to see a show, the additional $9 congestion toll they'll pay represents 0.9 percent of their theater costs, before even calculating in food, parking, souvenirs and maybe a post-show drink at Sardi's,” reports Streetsblog.

And diners? Some folks who own diners in Manhattan have complained that congestion pricing might keep New Jerseyans away. But as people in the state know, New Jersey is the diner capital of the world. Most people in New Jersey can find several diners within a few minutes’ drive, and have their favorite one. We’d guess that the number of New Jerseyans who’d drive into New York to eat at a diner could be counted on the fingers of one hand.