XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics, alt.society.liberalism
XPost: nyc.politics

They finally caught a brake.

Working class New Yorkers rejoiced Wednesday that congestion pricing was
axed by the Trump administration — saying the much-loathed driving toll
was a big financial burden.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Paul Belli, who owns a plumbing business in Brooklyn. “Nobody needs this. Everyone has high inflation they’re
dealing with already.”

Belli said he has “spent thousands” on the toll since the controversial
fee to drive into Manhattan below 60th Street went into effect six weeks
ago — in part because plumbers have on-the-job equipment that require
them to drive to work.

“My customers are going to be very happy because now I can stop charging
them for the congestion pricing [adjustments],” Belli said. “Everyone’s been hurting through this whole thing.”

The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration announced Wednesday it had terminated approval of the program, which
aimed to reduce traffic and travel time while raising billions for the MTA.

The transit agency quickly responded by suing to keep the toll in place.

The scheme, which went into effect Jan. 5, irked many blue collar folks
— who said they need vehicles for their jobs, or that taking public
transit doubles their commuting time.

“We feel relieved. At the end of the day, we can’t keep pushing the
burden to small business,” said Larry Zogby, who owns a small trucking company in Queens.

“I’ve been fighting this for three years,” he said of the move to pull the plug on the program.

“It’s ridiculous to pay to go to work in the city — not to have fun or
go shopping — but to go to work,” said Paul Caminiti, a teacher who commutes from Staten Island to Manhattan.

He said it would take him three hours round-trip to commute by bus while driving takes an hour and 20 minutes.

The first-in-the-nation congestion pricing program charges drivers in
Manhattan below 60th Street a $9 base toll — but the fee can increase to
up to $27 when crossing by tunnel or some bridges with no E-ZPass.

Allison Rivera, 42, who works in a medical office in Manhattan said
she’s been forking over $45 a week just to get to her job.

“Finally,” she said of the scrapped toll. “It was so unfair to pay an extra $9 to get to work [daily].”

Ricky Stevens, 58, who works in a deli in the East Village added, “I
didn’t vote for Trump, but he’s doing more for New Yorkers than our governor. Isn’t that sad?”

Firefighters, cops and other ordinary workers have said for months they
simply can’t afford the toll, which was approved as part of a 2019 state
law and later backed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

https://nypost.com/2025/02/19/us-news/nyc-workers-commuters-rejoice-over-trumps-axing-of-congestion-pricing-toll-im-ecstatic/

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