NYC Creeps Ahead on Congestion Fees, Raising Doubts on Deadline
- Traffic Mobility Review Board needed to set policies, prices
- Transit advocates worry the MTA’s not moving fast enough
Pedestrians pass through congested traffic at Columbus Circle in New York.
Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg
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Tolls on motorists entering midtown Manhattan promise to alter everyday life for millions of people in the most populous U.S. city. Yet with the fees slated to begin in a year, the panel empowered to set pricing and other policies has yet to be created.
Transit advocates and planners say they are increasingly worried that the “Traffic Mobility Review Board” won’t have enough time to get the system going. Its recommendations are due no earlier than Nov. 15, 2020, and the congestion pricing could go into effect as early as Jan. 1, 2021. Any delay would stall funding for improvements to the city’s problem-plagued subways and buses.