Call ‘em the Poor Authority.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is worried the new $9 congestion toll to enter Midtown Manhattan will actually reduce traffic — and revenue — at Hudson River bridge and tunnel crossings.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — which is overseen by appointees of Murphy and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul — generates more than $2 billion in revenues from its tolls, which include the Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel and George Washington Bridge.
“As you are aware, New Jersey has significant concerns regarding New York and the Metropolitan Authority’s congestion pricing program,” Murphy said in the letter to the authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole.
“Please allow this letter to serve as a formal request for statistical information related to the impact of New York’s congestion pricing scheme on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.”
Murphy is asking for total bridge and tunnel crossings and the total number of passenger vehicles for the month of January and for every month going forward, as well as for traffic and toll data for 2024 and 2023 as a comparison “so we may assess the continued impacts on congestion pricing.”
The letter comes after the rollout of the Hochul-backed $9 congestion toll for drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street.
Drivers from Jersey who cross the Holland or Lincoln now have to pay the tunnel tolls as well as the congestion toll — with a $3 discount for the double charge.
The authority relies on its own toll revenues to maintain its crossings and support other key programs, such as the PATH trains for New Jersey commuters to get into Manhattan and the planned Midtown Bus Terminal.
The authority also has tolls on the roadways that connect the Garden State to New York via Staten Island — the Bayonne Bridge, Goethals Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing.
A PA spokesman said it will provide Murphy’s office with the traffic and toll data going forward.
“Tolls fund the critical interstate transportation infrastructure that keeps our region moving,” PA spokesman Seth Stein said.
“These revenues allow us to make once-in-a-generation capital investments that are transforming key assets, including a top to bottom rehab of the George Washington Bridge, complete replacement of the Midtown Bus Terminal, and an overhaul of track, signals and stations in the PATH system.”
Murphy raises a “fair point” regarding traffic and toll revenue at the PA, said Danny Pearlstein of the Riders Alliance, a mass transit advocate who backs the congestion toll.
But he expects any decline in PA revenue would be negligible and that the reduction in traffic and congestion thus far has been a good thing.
“Murphy is viewing this issue from a helicopter and not seeing what’s happening on the ground,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hochul said Wednesday the congestion toll thus far has been a success in reducing congestion and speeding up traffic in Midtown.
While “not declaring mission accomplished,” she said during a NY1 interview that “it’s working” as intended.
After Murphy’s request, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) sent a letter to President Trump Thursday — co-signed by two dozen other elected officials — urging him to have the federal government reverse its approval and kill the congestion toll.
Trump opposes the toll.
Among the signatories was Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon and Borough President Vito Fossella.
