NJ Transit May Need Fare Hikes Under NY Congestion Plan, Murphy Administration Warns

NEW JERSEY — Gov. Phil Murphy once again stated New Jersey's case against New York's congestion-pricing plan, warning that it could hit state residents in their wallets. The Empire State's approved plan may lead to greater financial burden, declines in air quality and even more auto traffic in certain areas, the governor said Friday in a letter to federal officials.

The letter echoes many of the concerns Murphy voiced to federal Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in early September. The state's transportation agencies didn't have sufficient time to review a 4,005-page environmental review that federal officials released this summer on the congestion plan, according to the Murphy administration. (Here's the letter, uploaded by POLITICO.)

The Central Business District Tolling Program is designed to reduce traffic in Manhattan via a disincentivizing fee. In 2019, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio reached an agreement on congestion pricing in 2019, but various delays have postponed the rollout to late 2023.

But the plan has drawn complaints from New Jersey officials — both Democrats and Republicans — some of which Murphy echoed in Friday's letter to the Federal Highway Administration.

One potential consequence includes fare hikes, Murphy says.

"New Jersey roads will be impacted, our vulnerable communities exposed to more congestion and air quality issues, and our state services will be further strained," Murphy wrote. "New Jersey will be left with the difficult decision of considering fare hikes to accommodate these costs, which would be passed on to customers, many of them socioeconomically disadvantaged."

While prices have not yet been determined, one proposal would charge commuters between $9 and $23 when the plan goes into effect. Larger vehicles, such as commuter buses, could get charged more, costing NJ Transit an estimated $12-25 million per year.

The federal environmental assessment notes the potential for a 2.3 percent increase in NJ Transit rail use. One estimate states that NJ Transit would need to add more than 100,000 bus trips and 4,700 train trips per year. While state officials say they haven't been given enough time to adequately review the projections, Murphy said that even modest increases in use would result in millions of dollars in new expenditures per year.

The fees would also put additional burdens on New Jersey's main transit hubs, bringing traffic and additional costs to economically disadvantaged communities such as Newark, Jersey City and Union City, Murphy says. One in four children in Newark has asthma — three times the national rate — according to the governor. The congestion plan could bring even more traffic to those communities, Murphy says.

"The socioeconomic and demographic data on who currently drives into the Manhattan CBD (central business district) is not available or considered in this analysis," Murphy wrote. "Consider that many of these individuals cannot afford to live in Manhattan and must travel great lengths to reach the workplace."

Congestion pricing would charge drivers more during peak hours to enter Manhattan's Central Business District — the area south of 60th Street. If implemented, New York would create the nation's first congestion-pricing plan, following in the footsteps of European cities such as London and Stockholm.

About 7.7 million people flowed through the Central Business District on an average weekday before the pandemic. About three-fourths of those trips came from public transit, but 24 percent came via car, taxi, van or truck, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) — the agency responsible for public transit in the New York City metro area.