[What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]

When Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo called for congestion pricing last month, there was no need for explanation. The idea of charging drivers a fee to enter Manhattan’s most congested neighborhoods has been argued for decades.

Congestion pricing has practically become a household term. Transit advocates, business leaders and others have rallied around it, saying it is the best option for raising money to fix New York City’s broken subways.

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, revived congestion pricing in New York in August 2017, declaring it “an idea whose time has come” — prematurely as it turned out. Many state legislators disagreed, especially from the boroughs and suburbs outside Manhattan where drivers say it is unfair when they do not have easy access to transit. Though the state budget contained congestion fees on taxis and Ubers, it left out the more ambitious congestion pricing plan.

Now congestion pricing is once again on the Albany agenda and advocates believe this is finally the year. Here’s why.

‘A real push’ from the governor

Though Mr. Cuomo, who controls the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subways and buses, supported congestion pricing last year, many legislators and advocates say he did not push hard enough. This year, the governor’s words and actions have escalated.

He has increasingly cited the necessity of congestion pricing and recently made his most forceful argument yet, warning that if state lawmakers did not approve it — subway riders could pay the price with a 30 percent subway fare increase.

He has included the congestion zone — the centerpiece of a congestion pricing plan — in his budget proposal unlike last year when he did not.

And when a lawsuit by the taxi industry temporarily blocked the congestion fees on taxis and Ubers from starting January 1, his administration vigorously fought back. The fees have since gone into effect, though the lawsuit continues.

The governor is banking on congestion pricing to generate $15 billion for repairs and improvements to the transit system through 2024.

“He has been steadfast and that’s been key,” said Charles Komanoff, a policy analyst and longtime congestion pricing advocate. “Last year, it was more of a trial balloon. This time, it feels like a real push.”

How would congestion pricing work?

The governor has called for a congestion zone in Manhattan south of 60th Street. Those who use already-tolled tunnels or the Henry Hudson Bridge from the Bronx to enter Manhattan would receive a credit. Drivers crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and headed directly north on the F.D.R. Drive past 60th Street would not have to pay.

A panel of experts would set the fees that drivers would have to pay by 2020. The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, also known as M.T.A. bridges and tunnels, would collect the fees under the governor’s proposal.

The fees could vary by the type of vehicle, the time and day of the week and other factors, but that would be negotiated with state legislators. The governor has also proposed creating a so-called “lockbox” for revenue raised through congestion pricing to ensure that it can only be spent on capital projects for the transit agency.

Under a similar plan put forward by a state task force last year, drivers could have been charged $11.52 for passenger cars and $25.34 for trucks.

Congestion pricing experts expect something along those lines. “The skeleton of the plan has been presented several times now,” said Sam Schwartz, a consultant who helped develop last year’s plan.

The transit authority recently started searching for a consultant to help develop this year’s plan, indicating that it was moving forward quickly.

Patrick Muncie, a spokesman for the governor, said “the pricing structure will be determined after discussions with the Legislature and once all variables are analyzed to meet the goals of the plan.”

Transit officials getting on board

Mr. Cuomo is not the only one making more of an effort. Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have been meeting privately with state legislators and other elected officials to address transit issues in their districts — and offer improvements — to build trust and support for additional funding. They are expected to meet soon with Bronx officials to discuss plans for expanding Metro-North Railroad services.

“They’re on a listening tour of the Albany legislature,” said Kathryn Wylde, the president and chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, a top business group. “We can’t sell congestion pricing without it.

Last year, Ms. Wylde said, many legislators were unwilling to approve more money for the transit authority when they felt that their local transit services were already neglected and their concerns ignored.

“Legislators need a reason when they raise fares and tolls,” she said. “They were looking for a story line they could tell and the M.T.A. was not offering up anything.”

Transit officials have started to lay out detailed plans about how the money would be spent on repairs and capital improvements. That has helped reassure some elected officials that any new money would not be squandered, according to advocates.

Andy Byford, who took charge of the subways and buses last year, has also been on his own listening tour holding a series of town hall meetings around the city.

Better odds in Albany

The Republican-controlled State Senate showed no interest last year in passing congestion pricing. Senate Republican leaders, most of whom were from outside the city, were not open to imposing any additional financial obligations on New Yorkers.

Even Democratic Assembly leaders had been unwilling to take on such a divisive issue, especially in an election year. While Speaker Carl E. Heastie, who represents the Bronx, supports congestion pricing, he told his members that he would not exert his will on them.

But congestion pricing’s odds have improved this year, supporters say, following the blue wave that helped flip the State Senate, giving Democrats control of state government for the first time in a decade. Many new members are young and take subways and buses or ride bikes rather than drive cars. They do not need to be sold on congestion pricing’s benefits.

Vocal supporters from outside Manhattan include Senators Alessandra Biaggi in the Bronx, Julia Salazar in Brooklyn, and Jessica Ramos of Queens, a borough where there has long been resistance to driver fees.

“We need a clear congestion pricing plan that will ensure the revenue brought in is allocated directly to improving issues with our subways,” Senator Ramos said. “The state legislature knows that straphangers do not have any more time to waste waiting for these repairs to be made.”

A spokesman for Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate majority leader, said that congestion pricing will be discussed by Senate leaders.

Winning over the ‘windshield view’

As congestion pricing has become intertwined with the subway, it is gaining wider support, advocates say.

One of the biggest changes, Mr. Schwartz says, has been in the “windshield view” — as drivers fed up with being stuck in gridlock want something done. Traffic in Midtown Manhattan now crawls at an average of 4.7 miles an hour as Ubers and other ride-app cars have flooded streets, truck deliveries have expanded and construction has blocked or narrowed car lanes.

This year, there is not one but two grass-roots campaigns working to pass congestion pricing. Fix Our Transit grew out of last year’s effort and includes more than 125 organizations, including leading business, labor and civic groups.

A second coalition, #FixtheSubway, is coordinated by the Riders Alliance, a grass-roots group of transit riders, and includes neighborhood-based social justice, labor and immigrant organizations.

“What kind of progressive government doesn’t deliver for transit riders stuck on the subway and bus every day?” said Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for the Riders Alliance.

Few other options

Congestion pricing still faces many hurdles. Opponents, including Assemblyman David I. Weprin of Queens, have vowed to continue fighting. And even some supporters have raised concerns about the lack of details in the governor’s plan, while others have questioned whether it gives the state too much authority over city streets.

“I am excited to see the momentum behind it this year, but we simply can’t afford to get it wrong,” said City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. “Any plan that runs on city money, takes control of the city’s streets and sidewalks while ignoring city priorities, is the wrong plan.”

But the bottom line is that there may be no other choice as transit problems have gotten so bad that Albany leaders have to do something.

Mr. Komanoff said there was a readiness to try something new and different as familiar ideas to reduce congestion (enforcing traffic rules) and raise money for transportation (taxing commuters) have languished.

“Congestion pricing has come to be seen as the fundamental building block to fix our streets and subways,” he said. “Everything else will revolve around it.”

Follow Winnie Hu on Twitter: @WinnHu

Source: Read Full Article