This week, we asked readers their thoughts on the soon-to-be implemented ‘congestion pricing’ where drivers of private vehicles will be charged an additional toll when they travel to Manhattan below 60^th Street, beginning in June.

 

“It’s ridiculous! We live in the City of New York, and we must pay to go into Manhattan. So that means if I want to go out on a night out on the town, not only do I have to pay for my family and parking and everything else that I do, now I’ll have to pay a $17 toll to go where I live (New York City)? It’s not like I live in Jersey and coming over to New York. This is the greediness of our politicians, and I don’t want to hear Democrat or Republican because they’re all the (expletive) same.

 

My wife rides the train every day and that poor girl comes home every day with PTSD. Every day, she comes home and tells me a story about the trains. It’s such a (expletive) shame. I feel bad for her. How much money are we going to give the MTA? They’ve been crying they’re broke for 100 years already. I’m 56 years on this earth and every year they cry they’re broke because they don’t manage their money right. Somebody’s putting money in their pocket and they just don’t do the right thing.”

Frank Pugliese,

Castle Hill

“It’s not a good time for that. They should wait two or three years when the economy improves. Right now, it’s not good. It’s too much money to charge now. My wife and I both drive to Manhattan every day. I have no choice; I’ll have to pay. I’ve got to go but it’s not a good idea. It’s too much. I go there six days a week and my wife goes there too. That’s a lot of money, and then I’ll have to pay for parking when I go there. I don’t think the money will go to the subways. I think they’ll put the money in their pockets.”

Junito DeLeon,

Riverdale

“Yes, I’m a straphanger and I think if they use the money for what it’s actually for like they say, I think that is going to be a good thing, but the MTA, they usually raise the prices and do all kinds of stuff, and you see no evidence of that excess revenue in action or in practice.

The money gets lost somewhere. So, if they’re really going to use it to make improvements, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think the price is horrible, I don’t think they really thought it through. Maybe there should be some concessions? Who drives in the middle of the night?”

Damon Tutein,

Bedford Park

 

“No, honestly, I think the traffic will get worse because everyone likes to be by themselves now. Everybody’s in their own world. Many will do illegal stuff because no one wants to pay. Yeah, they’ll use fake plates because they don’t want to pay. Why should we pay if we built this city? It’s like what they did in Michigan when they blocked off the bridge. We’re paying more money but not getting enough services back. No, I don’t see any improvements in the subway.”

Jamal Alkayfee,

Norwood

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous! I think the city is expensive enough and I think we’re kind of over them pushing us out of our own city, and things like this make you feel like you’re being pushed out. Their claim of less traffic and emissions is b——t. Pardon my French, but it’s absolute b——t.

 

We know that this is just a money grab as everything else, like the E-Z Pass and the bridge and tunnel system and the Port Authority, and it’s completely ridiculous now to live in New York City. It’s truly saddening because I used to be proud of this city. I used to say I was proud to live here, and I don’t think I feel that anymore.”

Radames Ocasio,

Westchester Square

 

Editor’s Note: Lawyers representing the United Federation of Teachers, Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, civil rights organizations, the Municipal Labor Committee, and nearly two dozen elected officials went to federal court Friday, May 17, looking for the court to reject the current MTA congestion pricing plan.

 

 “We have been clear that this current MTA plan moves pollution and congestion out of Manhattan and sends it into the other boroughs and neighborhoods already dealing with environmental hazards. The MTA then asks these same communities to carry all the cost of making life better in Manhattan,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers. “It is not fair, and we are asking the courts to tell the MTA to come up with a better plan.”