Federal judge hears challenges to NYC’s fee for drivers into Manhattan
New York’s first-in-the-nation plan to levy a hefty toll on drivers entering Manhattan was the focus of a legal battle that played out in federal court
NEW YORK — New York’s first-in-the-nation plan to levy a hefty toll on drivers entering much of traffic-choked Manhattan was the focus of a legal battle that played out in federal court Friday.
A Manhattan judge heard arguments in lawsuits brought by unionized public school teachers and other New Yorkers seeking to put the brakes on the plan set to launch June 30.
But U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Liman didn’t issue any decisions following the daylong hearing, where the central question was whether transportation officials have sufficiently thoroughly studied — and come up sufficient plans to address — the negative health and environmental effects of the toll.
Most drivers in private cars, locals and tourists alike, heading into Manhattan south of Central Park should expect to pay about $15 during the daytime, with higher tolls for larger vehicles and lower rates for motorcycles and late-night entries into the city, according to the proposal finalized in March. Those who aren’t enrolled in a regional toll collection program will pay $22.50.
Alan Klinger, a lawyer representing lower Manhattan residents, said the toll amounts to a “cash grab” by transit officials looking to pump billions of dollars into the region’s creaky subway, trains and buses.
“There’s a desperate need to put funds into mass transit, and that is their overriding issue,” he said.
Lawyers for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the agency overseeing the congestion fee plan, didn't dispute that the toll will provide a critical cash infusion of around $1 billion annually for the system, which
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