G THE B IN EN V C R H E S A N 8 D 8 B 18 AR CE WWW. NYLJ.COM SIN VOLUME 261—NO. 89 THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2019 Environmental Law Expert Analysis New York’s New Congestion Pricing Law n the biggest change in local Coverage and Exemptions transportation policy in a Vehicles that travel south of 60th generation, maybe two, “con- Street only on Route 9A (the West gestion pricing” will be insti- Side Highway) or the FDR Drive tuted in Manhattan’s Central By And will not have to pay, but if they IBusiness District in early 2021. It Michael B. Edward venture inward they will. The only Gerrard McTiernan is the first action in decades that exemptions written into the new could actually lower traffic con- on Manhattan’s streets by making statute are emergency vehicles, gestion, and that could provide a it more expensive to drive; reduc- and vehicles transporting a person stable funding base for the capi- ing air pollution; and providing an with disabilities (to be defined). tal program of the Metropolitan assured source of capital funding People who reside south of 60th Transportation Authority (MTA). for the transit system. Street and have annual incomes It also transfers considerable below $60,000 will receive a credit power from the Mayor to the Congestion pricing has long against their state income taxes. Governor. worked effectively in London, Sin- Passenger vehicles will only have Vehicles entering Manhattan on gapore and Stockholm. New York to pay once a day, even if they or below 60th Street will need to will be the first city in the western cross 60th Street more than once. pay a charge, probably through hemisphere to adopt it. The rest Beyond that, the board of the the E-ZPass system or, if they do of the world will be watching. Triborough Bridge and Tun- not have such passes but their nel Authority (TBTA) will set license plates are photographed, The new program was enacted the charges and decide on any higher rates via “pay-by-mail.” as part of the FY2020 State bud- exemptions or discounts. The The program has three major get, Chapter 59 of the Laws of statute directs TBTA to imple- goals—reducing traffic volumes 2019. Most of it is codified in a ment a plan for exemptions, new Article 44-C of the Vehicle credits or discounts for for-hire MICHAEL B. GERRARD is a professor and director of and Traffic Law. This column dis- vehicles such as taxis, green the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, and senior counsel to Arnold & Porter. cusses what the law provides, cabs, black cars, and rideshare EDWARD MCTIERNAN is a partner in Arnold & Por- what is yet to be decided, and vehicles such as Uber and Lyft. ter, and former general counsel of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. who will decide. Since Feb. 1, 2019 these vehicles THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2019 have been paying a congestion The revenues must all go to and maintained. Unless that mem- surcharge for trips south of 96th capital expenditures—80% for the orandum provides otherwise, all Street of $2.75 ($2.50 for medal- New York City Transit Authority the key decisions will be made by lion taxis, $0.75 for pool trips). (i.e., subways and buses), 10% for the TBTA. This surcharge was enacted by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), The law requires the TBTA to the State Legislature on April 1, and 10% for the Metro North Com- create a Traffic Mobility Review 2018. Some in the taxi industry muter Railroad. The state budget Board to conduct the traffic challenged the action; the New includes a separate $100 million studies and recommend the toll York State Supreme Court issued to design, procure and install the amounts and variable tolling a temporary restraining order tolling system. structure. One of the Board’s six against the surcharge but lifted members is to be recommended that order on January 31. by the Mayor of New York City. With the emergence of elec- The statute also directs TBTA The other five members will be tronic systems for collecting tolls to consider giving breaks of some appointed by the TBTA (read: without queue-generating toll sort to drivers who already paid the Governor’s Office) and are booths, and with the deteriora- to enter Manhattan through one of to include one member each tion of the transit system, the the tolled bridges or tunnels. from the LIRR and Metro North case became stronger for charg- The law authorizes TBTA to pro- territories. The Board’s recom- ing for entry into Manhattan’s vide additional credits, discounts mendations are due in November Central Business and exemptions to others, as or December 2020. The statute informed by traffic studies. Among Most estimates are that the provides that the system may not those who are already seeking roundtrip charge will be in the start earlier than Dec. 31, 2020, breaks are motorcycle, tour bus $12-$14 range for passenger cars followed by a phase-in period of and truck drivers, and police offi- and around $25 for trucks during 60 days. Given that the MTA wants cers. There are conflicting press prime business hours, and less at to begin collecting the money as reports about whether some kind night and on weekends. soon as possible, the system will of exemption has been promised to probably debut in January 2021. Governance New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy The ultimate toll amounts, exemp- for New Jersey motorists. The system will be planned, tions, and other details will be A practical limit exists on how designed, installed and operated decided by the TBTA. many discounts and exemptions by TBTA, the arm of the MTA that There is no provision for public can be granted, however, because tolls and maintains bridges and participation in any of these deci- the statute requires that the rev- tunnels. By the end of May, the sions, except that the TBTA must enues from the surcharge must TBTA must enter into a memo- hold a hearing on the proposed be enough to support at least $15 randum of understanding with charges. The statute explicitly billion in bonds for the 2020-2024 the New York City Department exempts the whole of the conges- capital program, which translates of Transportation with regard to tion pricing plan from the State to an annual revenue requirement how the congestion pricing sys- Environmental Quality Review Act of roughly $1 billion. tem will be designed, installed and the Uniform Land Use Review THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2019 Procedure, two mechanisms by ly opposed the tolls. When the of the outer boroughs. Governor which public voices would nor- courts rejected the City’s efforts Andrew Cuomo signaled support mally be heard. to annul the plan, Congress pro- for the idea in 2017, and helped The law transfers a consid- vided relief in 1977 in exchange push it through in 2019. Mayor erable amount of legal control for pledges of more transit fund- de Blasio came to support the over Manhattan streets from an ing. Transit advocates repeatedly proposal in the closing weeks of agency controlled by the Mayor proposed new tolling plans in the the state’s budget process. (the City’s Department of Trans- ensuing years, but got nowhere. Congestion pricing has long portation) to one controlled by Thirty years later, in 2007, May- worked effectively in London, Sin- the Governor (the TBTA). Mayor or Michael Bloomberg proposed gapore and Stockholm. New York Bill de Blasio evidently agreed to congestion pricing, having seen will be the first city in the western this switch. the success of such a scheme in hemisphere to adopt it. The rest London. The plan passed the City of the world will be watching. History Council and received a pledge Those seeking less traffic con- of federal funding, but could not gestion, cleaner air and more gain the approval of the State mass transit funding have been Legislature. Opposition from the calling for charges to enter Man- outer boroughs and the subur- hattan for many years. The Brook- ban counties demonstrated once lyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg again that bridge tolls—a key ele- and Queensboro (now Edward ment of the plan—were a third I. Koch) bridges had tolls in the rail of New York politics. late 1800s and early 1900s, but With the emergence of elec- those did not last long. City offi- tronic systems for collecting cials proposed to reinstate the tolls without queue-generating tolls in 1933 but they were not toll booths, and with the dete- enacted. In 1973 Governor Nelson rioration of the transit system, Rockefeller and outgoing Mayor the case became stronger for John Lindsay submitted to the charging for entry into Manhat- U.S. Environmental Protection tan’s Central Business District Agency a “transportation con- and using the money to pay for trol plan” that included tolls on transit. An additional important the free bridges across the East piece, put forward by the Move and Harlem Rivers. (All the other NY coalition that pressed for con- bridges and tunnels into Manhat- gestion pricing in the interven- tan already had tolls.) Under the ing years, was the idea of using a federal Clean Air Act, this plan portion of the funding to improve Reprinted with permission from the May 9, 2019 edition of the NEW YORK LAW was binding. Lindsay’s successor, transit access in so-called tran- JOURNAL © 2019 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved.