NYC congestion pricing revenue jumped up in February, MTA says
The MTA on Monday released its latest data on New York City
congestion pricing
and talked about a new pilot program aimed at making adjustments to bus schedules in Manhattan.
It comes as the agency says it has seen improvements in travel times due to the tolling program.
The MTA held its March committee meetings and revealed that the congestion pricing tolling program is showing signs of continued success.
It reports $51.9 million was collected in February,
$3.3 million more than in January
.
When it comes to the type of vehicles that entered the congestion relief zone, 66% were passenger vehicles, 24% were taxis or for-hire vehicles, 9% were trucks, and 1% were buses and motorcycles.
In addition, the Finance Committee announced Monday that the MTA is still on track to meet its year-end goal of $500 million, adding $78 million of that money will eventually be transferred to the so-called "lock box" for use during capital projects.
Systemwide, bus speeds are up this year. In fact, the MTA has been evaluating travel times on seven routes to see if there is a need to adjust schedules due to the reduced congestion in the area. The pilot program has been in effect since mid-February.
"Four percent speed improvements and a reduction in bus bunching. Some of the largest gains have been on the M42, M50 and Q32," New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said. "We have been evaluating whether removing scheduled time points will further take advantage of the reduced congestion."
Commuters in East Harlem could be closer to gaining access to the Second Avenue Subway. On Monday, the MTA announced a big step forward in the project.
CBS News New York has learned the transit agency is set to take a vote aimed at awarding a $186 million contract for a consultant to oversee the work of the extension of the subway.
Board members say it's a joint venture between two of some of the city's biggest construction management firms. A source says after this step the transit agency will then have to draft up additional contracts for digging underground and building the new stations.
This is just the latest move the MTA is making to begin work on bringing the Q train to 125th Street in East Harlem. Jamie Torres-Springer, the president of MTA construction and development, offered some insight into what makes this contract different from some of the others associated with this project.
"This contract includes a performance evaluation program, in which there will be additional payments for excellent performance, and a reduction in fee for unsatisfactory performance. There will be incentive payments for early completion of key milestones, including reaching revenue service -- the most important of milestones, and there will be liquidated damages for each day that the milestones are delivered late," Torres-Springer said.
Keep in mind, the Second Avenue Subway is funded by congestion pricing. The MTA predicts the work will cost it around $7.7 billion. The board is expected to take a vote on the matter during Wednesday's meeting.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
7 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Lake Forest City Council decides to keep broadcasting meetings on cable tv channel
Lake Forest residents who prefer to watch city meetings on cable television will continue to have that option as the City Council did not approve a staff recommendation to suspend the channel. Council members received an overview of the state of the local cable TV channel at their June 2 meeting with staff suggesting it should at least be temporarily discontinued. However, a split emerged among the aldermen, and no vote was taken. The cable channel airs over channel 17 for local Comcast subscribers, and the city receives it at no cost through its franchise agreement with the cable provider, Assistant to the City Manager Keri Kaup said. The city airs City Council, Finance Committee, and Plan Commission meetings on the channel that has been available to residents since the late 1980s, according to a city spokeswoman. The rest of the time, informational slides are supposed to be aired. City staff cited a lack of use in the channel, plus technical reasons for why the city should move away from the channel. Regarding viewership, Kaup said Comcast did not keep statistics on how many residents watched the meetings, but she pointed to a 2023 community-wide survey where only one percent of respondents, translating to 14 people, used the channel to get information. She contrasted that with 54 % of residents using the city's website and 59% reading the electronic newsletter, which has approximately 12,000 subscribers. She added the city did not receive any complaints from residents after the city did not broadcast the May 19 City Council meeting. Kaup added the city is responsible for the costs of maintaining and upgrading the equipment associated with the channel and mentioned a December 2024 upgrade of the audiovisual system at the City Hall's Council Chambers. Still, technical issues remain in place. 'What it didn't do was improve the quality that goes out on the cable broadcast,' Kaup said. That is because we don't have control of the quality that goes out on the broadcast. That is a Comcast issue.' She added that some connection issues have now emerged, and the city would have to replace some equipment to keep the channel going. That was a reason why the city has not aired the informational slides recently. The equipment replacement costs would be about $3,360, according to city documents. Kaup added the city staff would assist residents in demonstrating how to access the livestream of meetings through a computer, either from the city's website or its YouTube channel. 'We believe that making this change would enable us to direct our resources to communication mediums that are most utilized by our residents and maintain transparency while we are eliminating that redundancy,' she said. However, JoAnn Desmond, a member of the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Senior Citizens Foundation Board, advocated for the city to keep the channel in place. 'I am aware of many seniors whose only access to watch city meetings is through cable TV,' she said. Desmond added that some older residents are not comfortable using computers. 'I know there are many seniors unable to enjoy active lives and do not have adequate technology skills,' she said. 'Many of these seniors enjoy the company of cable TV and would feel further disenfranchised from our city government if they did not have access to these meetings in a way they are most comfortable. This is a small price to pay for our seniors.' City Council members differed among those wanted to keep the channel in place and those who agreed with the staff recommendation. Alderwoman Nancy Novit, 1st, labeled the channel as an important tool, and she watches it personally. 'I think it is easier for people who know how to turn on Channel 17, to turn on Channel 17 than to go to the website and look for the stream and take extra steps that are not intuitive steps,' Novit said. 'Especially for the seniors who know the way they know and don't want to have to go through the machinations of learning a new way to do it.' Alderman John Powers, 2nd, also preferred to keep the channel in place. 'If there are a handful of people that still use this and want to stay connected, I think it is worth the investment,' he said. Seeing it differently, Alderman Edward 'Ted' Notz, 1st, supported a discontinuation, stating he liked the staff proposal to train people to use the livestream. 'I think that is a great solution to bridge that gap,' Notz said. That sentiment was echoed by Alderman Richard Walther, 4th. 'This will allow us to train our community to use the livestream solution,' he said. With the differing viewpoints, City Manager Jason Wicha indicated the cable TV broadcasts would continue. 'This is not a strong staff recommendation so if there doesn't seem to be a strong consensus on the council to remove it, it is a fairly immaterial expense,' he said. 'This will effectively keep the lights on.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Amtrak ready to close NYC tunnel despite fears of possible delays, chaos from Hochul, MTA
Amtrak is moving full speed ahead with tunnel closures in the city on Friday — despite pleas from Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams who fear the three-year project could cause transit chaos. Amtrak leadership had a 'productive' meeting with Hochul and leaders of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Thursday, but Amtrak will still close one of two westbound train tracks in the East River Tunnel, according to Amtrak spokesperson Jason Abrams. 'Amtrak reassured the Governor and MTA of our commitment to minimizing impacts to passengers throughout the project,' Abrams said. The transit giant's much-maligned plan earned the ire of Long Islanders and top city and state officials over worries the closure could affect MTA trains from Queens into Penn Station. Any unforeseen construction problems may mean all access in the tunnel has to be closed off, potentially disrupting train traffic on a major regional scale, critics have argued. But Amtrak said to try to avoid delays it will provide around-the-clock engineering coverage during the outage, conduct more frequent inspections of the remaining westbound track — and strategically position rescue equipment so delays can be swiftly resolved. Hochul said Amtrak also agreed to allow third-party consultants to examine the project to determine if the second tunnel needs to be fully closed when that construction begins in the fall of 2026 and runs for 13 months. The construction on the first tunnel starting Friday will also take about 13 months, Amtrak engineers said. Hochul asked Amtrak to suspend dynamic pricing on affected train trips during the shutdown. Abrams said Amtrak is assessing the feasibility with the New York State Department of Transportation. Mayor Eric Adams jumped into the tunnel tug-of-war May 6, sending a fiery letter to US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy — blasting Amtrak's East River shutdown plan and demanding feds step in before commuters are left stranded and steaming. City Hall sources said Adams has been going back and forth with the White House on the shutdown, even having Randy Maestro, the first deputy mayor, make the admin's case. But ultimately, the mayor's office is letting Hochul lead the discussion. 'Top administration officials have had numerous conversations with Amtrak and the White House on this issue, and negotiations are still ongoing with the White House,' a City Hall rep said in a statement. The MTA's Long Island Railroad service uses the East River Tunnel for hundreds of trains each day. LIRR President Rob Free has tried to distance the MTA from the closure plan, calling it 'Amtrak's operation' last week — even though the MTA green-lit Amtrak's plan to close the tunnels back in October 2023. Amtrak has maintained that the full closure of the tunnels is necessary because of the extent of damages since it was walloped by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. 'Amtrak is committed to delivering for today's riders while making the long-overdue investments needed to protect service for future generations,' Abrams said.
New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
Soaking the rich — as Mamdani and other lefties want —won't pay for a supersized NYC gov't
Mayoral candidate and Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani vaulted into contention in this month's Democratic primary by pledging to supersize city government. 'He knows exactly how to pay for it, too,' his campaign brags. Does he, though? Mamdani's platform — free child care, more public housing and an end to bus fares or CUNY tuition, just to name a few — wouldn't come cheap. Advertisement New Yorkers can have all of it, he promises, for the bargain-basement price of $10 billion in new revenues — less than a tenth of the current city budget. Mamdani is very much lowballing his agenda's price tag. Yet even if he weren't, he still wouldn't likely be able to deliver. Advertisement Most of his plans rely on a pair of tax hikes on corporations and millionaire earners, totaling $9 billion. He doesn't have authority to implement either. Should his cocktail of social-media savvy and socialism land him in Gracie Mansion, he'd need Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to OK these 'revenue raisers.' New York's local governments, the city included, can't set their own personal or business income-tax rates. Between the city's 1975 brush with insolvency, and its more recent fiscal profligacy, that's understandable. Here's another good reason: Candidates sometimes don't understand themselves how taxes work — and Mamdani is clearly one of them. Advertisement Mamdani regularly compares the top state corporate tax rates of New York (7.25%) and New Jersey (11.5%). These are essentially the state tax rates on businesses profits related to their activity in a state. Mamdani says he'd 'match' New Jersey's rate. On the one hand, that would be a windfall—for Albany, which collects the state corporate tax, not for New York City, where most is generated. Yet Mamdani doesn't get that New York City's biggest firms already pay far more than they would on the other side of the Hudson. Before anyone cuts a check to Albany, city businesses pay the Business Corporation Tax, at least 6.5% for small businesses and as much as 9%. On their remaining income, companies pay the state Corporation Franchise Tax, plus a surcharge to support the MTA. Advertisement All-in, the top state-local rate for businesses in the city is generally just over 17.4%. For them, 'matching' New Jersey would be a meaty tax cut. But say Albany implemented Mamdani's $5 billion hike (after all, lawmakers pushed unsuccessfully for a smaller corporate tax increase this year). That would push the top combined corporate tax rate to a stratospheric 22%. Nor would the proceeds flow automatically to the five boroughs. It would still be 'Albany's' money. Mamdani would need to persuade lawmakers and the governor to spend the proceeds his way. He may find his friends in Albany aren't so friendly when money's involved. Compare that to North Carolina, which is phasing out its corporate tax. It's no coincidence that state has been scooping up new corporate headquarters. Or Pennsylvania, which is in the process of reducing its top corporate rate from 10% percent in 2022, to 8% this year, toward the goal of 5% in 2031. Soak-the-rich rhetoric aside, even Albany can't ignore the explosion of remote work and the danger of pushing major employers to shift operations or direct expansions elsewhere. Advertisement This isn't the only facet of tax policy Mamdani doesn't get. His other big tax increase would have city residents with incomes over $1 million pay the city an extra 2% of their earnings (on top of their Medicare, Social Security, paid family leave and state and federal income taxes). A growing body of data show people with high incomes and residences in other states limit their time in New York to reduce their exposure to the bigger bite taken by state taxes. Here's yet another wrinkle: New York taxes people on their activity in the state, even if they don't live here. By contrast, since 1999, the city levies an income tax only on its residents — and, as with the business taxes, only with Albany's blessing. Advertisement Plenty of people tolerate this extra tax, which tops out at just under 3.9%. But a two-point jump would measurably affect behavior. A couple making $1 million would avoid about $53,000 in city taxes by moving to Westchester or Nassau — up considerably from the $35,000 they would save now. That's effectively an $18,000 bonus for every millionaire earner who decamps for the 'burbs. Advertisement If Mamdani prevails, his followers will abruptly encounter fiscal realities they are ill-equipped to manage — mainly because they've been told to ignore them. Ken Girardin is a fellow of the Manhattan Institute.
