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Delusional New Yorkers Celebrate Congestion Pricing Despite Subways Serving As a Death Trap

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  January 06, 2025 4:45 PM

On Sunday, New York City congestion pricing went into effect, with a New Jersey judge allowing Governor Kathy Hochul's (D-NY) proposal to go into effect just before it did so. As if New York State, especially the city, weren't expensive and hectic enough, drivers going below 60th street will be charged $9.00. 

As The New York Post explained:

The scheme officially took effect at midnight on Sunday, meaning drivers entering the city below 60th Street will now have to pay $9 during peak hours — 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends — and $2.25 for off-peak hours.

During peak hours, large trucks will pay $21.60, small trucks $14.40 and motorcycles $4.50

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Drivers earning less than $50,000 can apply for a 50% discount for all trips after the first 10 in a calendar month.

The architects hope the plan will push more drivers to use public transit — but the rollout comes after 10 people were murdered in the subway system last year.

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The MTA claims the tolls are necessary to reduce pollution caused by gridlock and to raise $15 billion for mass transit upgrades, such as extending the Second Avenue subway, signal improvements and buying hundreds of new electric buses.

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Including congestion tolls, drivers traveling into Manhattan from New Jersey through the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels will ultimately have to shell out $22.06 during peak hours and $31.81 if they don’t have E-ZPass.

Hochul abruptly paused the program before it was set to launch in June with a $15 toll following outcry from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and other pols who said it could doom Democratic candidates in suburban House seats.

She waited until after November’s general election before caving into the demands of car-hating environmental groups and other extremists before pushing her reduced $9 tolling scheme, which is scheduled to jump to $12 for most vehicles in 2028 and $15 in 2031.

The tolls are the first of their kind in the US, but London and some other cities around the world have rolled out similar programs.

Motivation for the plan is referenced, with the hope that people will be forced to use public transit, though as the report also mentioned, 10 people were murdered using the subway system. It's become something of a death trap for innocent victims, as a homeless woman was killed last month when she was burned to death as she slept while riding a subway car. She was later identified as 57-year-old Debrina Kawam. 

The man charged with the crime is an illegal alien from Guatemala. Many other innocent bystanders have also been victimized using the subway in recent days. 

The New York Post also covered many more incidents happening just days later:

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The MTA boss’ comments come after a series of high-profile attacks in the city’s transit system, including the shocking attack on 57-year-old Debrina Kawam who was torched to death on a Brooklyn F train in plain view of horrified commuters.

There were at least five attacks in the days after Kawam’s death, including the stabbing of an MTA staffer heading to work in The Bronx on Thursday at the Pelham Parkway station.

Four other commuters were also slashed on consecutive days in the past week alone, including a 52-year-old man knifed in the arm at the Myrtle-Wyckoff L train station in Brooklyn; a 48-year-old man slashed in the neck at the West 50th Street and Eighth Avenue station in Manhattan; and two others on New Year’s Day.

In those violent incidents, a 30-year-old man was cut in the arm during a dispute with another commuter at the 110th Street-Cathedral Parkway station in Manhattan, and a 31-year-old man was stabbed in the back at the 14th Street station in Manhattan just 15 minutes later.

Last Tuesday, music programmer Joseph Lynskey, 45, was pushed at random in front of a Manhattan No. 1 train — and miraculously survived the horrendous and apparently random attack.

Violence continued to seep into New York City subways over the weekend when a 38-year-old man was stabbed in the arm inside the Third Avenue and 138th Street No. 6 express station in Mott Haven. The victim was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

The MTA not only comes off as incompetent on the matter, but heartless. MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber claimed the recent incidents of violent crime on the subway "have gotten in people's heads and made the whole system feel unsafe."

It isn't merely the MTA that has come off looking terrible on the subject. The mainstream media has provided cover for the dangerous subway system, particularly Forbes with its article, published after Debrina Kawam was burned to death, "If You Haven't Been To New York City Since The Pandemic, There's Been A Big Change To The Subway That You Will Love." The New York Times also put out a tone-deaf headline of how "Subway Violence Stubbornly Defies All Efforts to Quell It."

Worse, the plan doesn't merely apply to drivers. Those who don't even drive will be punished by Hochul's plan. As another article from The New York Post addressed, companies making deliveries to those unfortunate enough to be below 60th Street have sent out notices that the cost of the fee will be added as a surcharge. 

Uber and Lyft drivers also get to add that surcharge to fees for customers. Even local Democratic lawmakers, like Councilman Robert Holden, have criticized how the rideshare companies lobbied heavily for such a plan. "This is corporate greed at its worst," he's quoted by The New York Post as saying. "These companies will stop at nothing to rewrite the rules in their favor while leaving chaos in their wake."

The New York Times covered the Friday night decision, as well as how the plan, sure to cause even further inflation, could quickly be undone. President-elect Donald Trump, whose election victory was certified earlier on Monday, and who will be inaugurated on January 20, has vowed to end the program. Attorneys for New Jersey opposed to the plan said they would seek emergency relief from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. 

As we covered at the time when a Siena College poll came out last month, and as The New York Times also mentioned, the program is incredibly unpopular. 

Overall, voters opposed the plan by 51-29 percent. A plurality or a majority of every single demographic opposed the plan. The most "supportive" of the congestion pricing include 40 percent of Democrats and 38 percent of liberals. Even black voters, who are normally supportive of the governor, said they oppose the plan by 54-28 percent. 

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) released a video clip to his X account on Monday from his appearance on MSNBC where he expressed his strong opposition. He particularly criticized how Hochul claims she needs the plan to provide funding for the MTA while billions are spent on illegal aliens.