Taxi drivers protest ahead of MTA meeting on NYC congestion pricing plan
An MTA panel tasked with helping set tolls for New York City’s congestion pricing plan isn’t allowing public comment at its first meeting on Wednesday — so a few dozen cabbies showed up at the agency’s headquarters Tuesday with bullhorns in the rain.
“Hey, Hey, MTA,” they shouted. “Don’t make cabbies pay!”
The rally was the latest step in the New York Taxi Workers Alliance’s effort to lobby the Traffic Mobility Review Board for an exemption to the MTA’s plan to charge vehicles in Manhattan at and below 60th St.
The congestion pricing plan aims to raise $15 billion for the MTA’s capital budget and reduce pollution and congestion in the borough.
Taxi drivers have long said they already pay surcharges meant to subsidize the MTA, and that for-hire cars like yellow cabs are an antidote to private cars.
“Right now, on average, yellow cab drivers turn over $15,000 of their fare revenue every single year to the MTA.” NYTWA head B’hairavi Desai said.
Cabbies pay the MTA a 50-cent-per-ride surcharge instituted in 2009, and a congestion surcharge of $2.50 on all rides that pass through Manhattan below 97th street.
“Drivers have paid their fair share. They cannot survive a third tax,” Desai said.
MTA officials have said the price might range from $9 to $23, varying by time of day and type of vehicle. Late-night motorists are expected to get discounts. But the exact amounts of the tolls have not been determined.
Taxi drivers’ concerns — along with those of many other constituencies — were voiced last year among the many thousands of public comments logged in the run-up to federal approval for the congestion pricing plan.
The compiled public comments — a massive appendix to the MTA’s environmental assessment finalized earlier this year — comes to over 28,000 pages when combined with the MTA’s responses.
But those questions and concerns were raised prior to the release of key details of the MTA’s proposal — like the agency’s current plan to charge taxi drivers who enter the congestion zone once per day.
City Council Member Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) raised the issue in a letter to MTA chairman Janno Lieber Tuesday.
“This letter is a formal request to add a public comment period on the TMRB’s recommended toll rates,” she wrote.
“The 2022 public comment period sought feedback on the MTA’s Environmental Assessment, which evaluated the effects of implementing congestion pricing compared to taking no action,” Brewer continued.
“A public comment period that focuses on recommended tolling rates, discounts, and exemptions is appropriate.”
At Tuesday’s rally, Brewer voiced her support for the cabbies’ demands.
“Last year I testified on congestion pricing — I support the concept, but my main topic was not to charge yellow cabs, period.” Brewer told The News. “Not even once.”
The MTA did not immediately respond to questions regarding to Brewer’s letter.
Desai said Tuesday that her organization had just received an invitation to discuss the congestion plan with Gov. Hochul’s staff.
“They contacted us for a 30 minute meeting at the Governor’s office — tomorrow’s our first [such meeting],” Desai told The News.
“Up until today, we have not had any sit-down’s with the MTA or the governor’s office,” she added.
Desai’s group is calling for a full exemption from congestion pricing for yellow cab and green cab drivers.
“They’re killing my business,” said Richard Chow of Staten Island, a taxi driver of 17 years who still owes $170,000 on a medallion loan. “I barely survive.”
Desai said she felt as though her members’ concerns were taken seriously during the earlier public comment period.
“I feel like they heard our pleading last year,” she said.
But the proposal on the table to charge taxi drivers once a day won’t work, she said.
“That says to me they didn’t really understand how serious of a struggle it is for mere survival.”
