Faux outrage over congestion tolls may be good politics. NJ Transit is still a mess | Stile

There was one thing New Jersey Democrats failed to mention last Friday when they blasted New York’s planned “congestion pricing” project as a “brazen power grab.”

And it is this: The vast majority of daily New Jersey commuters, some 432,000 who take trains or buses to Manhattan, stand to benefit from New York's new tolling plan. Why? How?

Because the money raised by increased tolling — dollars that will come from a much smaller population of people who drive from New Jersey to work each day below 60^th Street in Manhattan — will go toward fixing New York City’s mass transit system. New subway elevators. New subway cars and electric buses. Upgrades on train signaling systems.

In turn, those improvements should help the mass transit commuters who transfer to the subways or buses after they arrive in the city. Or, for those who walk to their offices, there may be fewer cars to contend with as the new toll reduces traffic. And, finally, the air could get a little cleaner.

'New Jersey will never lay down'

But Friday’s event in Fort Lee — which a decade ago was paralyzed with gridlock for five days by a warped plan to punish the local mayor — wasn’t designed to extol how the congestion pricing is a good bargain for New Jersey mass transit riders (who won’t have to pay the tolling fee).

Instead, we got chest-thumping and wails of bluster from New Jersey Democrats, who vowed not to get pushed around by the Big Bad Bully across the Hudson.

“They will spare no expense to balance their budget on the backs of middle-class families in our state," said Sen. Bob Menendez, in a typical rhetorical jab. “We have to protect our residents from an unprovoked power grab. New Jersey will never lay down when it is threatened by bullies. We will always fight back.”

To listen to the posturing by an all-star lineup of New Jersey Democrats — from Gov. Phil Murphy and Menendez down to the back-bench Bergen County commissioners who were trotted out for their 15 seconds of fame before a phalanx of television cameras — you would think New York was solely ransacking Garden State drivers in a cynical bid to plug a shortfall for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the bus and rail systems in New York.

While it’s true that some 110,000 city-bound motorists from the Garden State could be socked with as much as a $23 fee during rush hour and $17 during off-peak hours, the bulk of the sticker shock will be felt by commuters from Long Island, the outer boroughs and Westchester County, New York. And drivers who have sailed across three East River crossings for generations for free will be tolled for the first time.

And how are these commuters likely to act? They’ll either ditch the car in favor of the train or bus, or, as many transit advocates predict, they will simply pay the extra fee. A 2021 study by Tri-State Transportation Campaign found that car commuters tend to be more affluent. The median average income among drivers was $110,000, compared with $88,000 for transit riders.

“The expectation is most of them will keep doing it, because it's what they want to do," said Danny Pearlstein, a consultant for the Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy group. “It'll be worth it to them, and that's why the policy will raise the money it raises.”

In other words, New Jersey’s Democrats were going to war with New York on behalf of a minority of driving commuters who are generally high earners, hoping to block a policy that benefits a majority of commuters who tend to earn less money.

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NJ Democrats sue federal Democrats to stop NY Democrats

That forecast got lost in the clouds of the political gas exhaled at the event in Fort Lee, which, when you step back and think about it, offered a strangely ironic political moment. Here we found top New Jersey Democrats suing the Federal Highway Administration, part of a Democratic administration, to halt a policy pushed by leading Democrats in neighboring New York.

And what is the heart of the dispute? A plan to reduce air pollution in New York City — otherwise known as climate change, a top priority, apparently, of the aforementioned Democrats.

“Governor Murphy has claimed himself to be a champion for climate change policies,” asserted Jaqi Cohen, director of climate and equity policy at Tri-State Transportation Campaign. “Going after congestion pricing, which is one of the most progressive pro-climate policies that New York has passed in recent years, is doing exactly the opposite of being a champion of climate change.”

It’s not to say that the lawsuit filed by the Murphy administration last week doesn’t have some practical purpose. It could very well prompt some changes to the tolling plan, which was given the green light by the Biden administration and could go into effect as early as next year. It could also serve as a way to prompt concessions as a New York panel begins formulating the final details of the new plan.

Already, MTA officials have indicated that discounts may be considered for drivers at the Holland and Lincoln tunnels, although how to toll George Washington Bridge drivers is unresolved.

And New Jersey does have a legitimate concern over increased air pollution caused by drivers detouring to avoid the tolls. An MTA environmental assessment last year cited possible spikes in soot levels in Bergen County under some circumstances.

The MTA, recognizing the same concern raised across the river in the Bronx, has dedicated some $24 million for “mitigation” efforts, mainly a plan to electrify vehicles at the Hunts Point Cooperative Market, Pearlstein said.

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New Jersey's transit vision remains out of focus

Still, the saber-rattling from the Jersey side also serves as a reminder of the Garden State’s unfocused transit vision.

Yes, New York’s congestion pricing plan isn’t solely about climate change. It is about plugging up deficits to the cash-challenged MTA as part of an array of stable, dedicated streams of cash. The MTA took a proactive approach to reversing its pandemic-era deficits: It enacted a payroll tax on large businesses that depend on city transit, it will receive portions of new casino tax revenues, and it enacted modest fare increases across its train and subway lines.

NJ Transit is also facing a $917 million deficit in 2025, which could prompt layoffs, service cuts and fare increases. So what’s the plan beyond the same-old patchwork funding — and fare-hike avoidance? Not much.

“We’ll fix it," Murphy pledged without elaborating.

Then there is the inconsistency of New Jersey’s concerns about air quality.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has proposed a $4.7 billion project that will widen and repair an 8-mile highway that links the turnpike to the Holland Tunnel. That plan raised alarms from environmentalists, who say it will flood local streets in Hudson and Essex counties with more traffic and pollution.

Activists have demanded that the Turnpike Authority and the state Department of Transportation conduct a “climate impact test” to ensure that the project doesn’t conflict with the Murphy administration’s climate change goals. The Turnpike Authority, however, rejected that plan last year, saying an environmental assessment of the project is already underway.

But the Fort Lee event had really another purpose. It was less about the long-term air quality in the traffic-clogged New York metro region than about clearing a political path for Democrats running for the Legislature this fall with a neurotic fear of losing majority control of both houses.

Faux outrage in front of the New York media was good, free publicity. It’s good to look like you’re on the warpath against the bully next door. There was a self-congratulatory mood after the event. It was good politics. Still, all New Jersey's top Democrats did Friday was pump more heat and confusion into the political atmosphere.

Charlie Stile is a veteran New Jersey political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stile@northjersey.com 

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This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ Transit's woes are deflected by congestion tolling lawsuit