$500M of taxpayer dough wasted? Hochul, MTA lack Plan B for NYC congestion pricing infrastructure
NY Post
The Hochul administration is staring at the grim prospect of having to flush a half-billion dollars in taxpayer money down the toilet over the botched congestion pricing scheme.
The boondoggle could’ve been avoided had Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority seriously studied what the economic impact on New York residents and businesses would be by charging drivers $15 to enter parts of Manhattan, critics said.
“One-hundred percent they should’ve done an economic analysis,” said Staten Island Borough President Vito Fosella, a plaintiff in one of many pending lawsuits trying to permanently kill the tolling plan.
“They couldn’t wait until all the T’s were crossed and I’s were dotted,” he added. “It’s just emblematic of the arrogance and desire to push this through, and look what happened? Not only are they not getting their money — but they wasted a half-billion dollars.”
E-Z Pass readers, license plate-scanning cameras and other infrastructure needed for the program are already mounted on traffic poles at 110 locatons south of 60th Street.
TransCore, a Nashville, Tenn.-based company, completed the bulk of the work the past year as part of a six-year, $507 million contract the MTA awarded in 2019 to design, build and operate the wildly unpopular program.
