XPost: alt.government.abuse, misc.taxes, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.society.liberalism   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   City voters elected Hochul.  Enjoy!   
      
   Motorists heading into some of Manhattan’s busiest neighborhoods have   
   begun shelling out a first-in-the-nation $9 congestion toll — a   
   controversial levy critics contend will drive people out of Gotham and   
   devastate the local economy.   
      
   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.   
      
   One of the first motorists to pay the toll, a man who declined to give his   
   name, seem resigned to pay the price.   
      
   “There’s nothing we can do. They already decided, there’s nothing we can   
   do,” he said, after going through a toll reader near the Lincoln Tunnel.   
      
   Another driver, when informed he had just missed the last chance to enter   
   Manhattan congestion-toll-free declared: “Right now ?!” “Ahhhh.”   
      
   Earlier on Saturday drivers ripped the plan and trashed Gov. Kathy Hochul,   
   hours before the scheme went into effect.   
      
   “We pay a lot of money to live in this formerly wonderful city, that has   
   taken some hits recently, and I think it’s terrible to be charging people   
   that pay taxes who live here extra money when they cross 61st St,” said   
   Samantha Popper, a 44-year-old stay-at-home-mom who lives nearby.   
      
   “It’s infuriating that in just another day we’ll be charged a hefty toll   
   just to cross 61st, which is just in my neighborhood,” she added.   
      
   Her message to Gov. Kathy Hochul: “work a lot harder” to keep New Yorkers   
   here and don’t “try to run them out of the city by up-charging them.”   
      
   Brian Anderson, a 42-year-old information technology specialist, said he   
   lived in the city for over a decade but moved to New Jersey five years ago   
   after being clocked in the face and knocked unconscious while reading a   
   book on the subway.   
      
   He said he moved specifically to avoid using mass transit but now realizes   
   that might no longer be an option financially.   
      
   “I’ll probably will be taking NJ Transit more often, and that’s no fun,”   
   he said.   
      
   “Otherwise, it’s gonna cost me $30 to $40 just to get to the other side of   
   the Hudson.“   
      
   Lyft driver Jose Siera ripped the scheme as a “money grab.”   
      
   “The tolls are going up also, bridges, they’re raising the prices also.   
   It’s gonna suck,” he said.   
      
   And Uber driver Luigi said “the whole thing is a scam”   
      
   “People are not going to be driving their vehicles into the city,” he   
   said.   
      
   “The taxi drivers, the Uber drivers, we are gonna put this cost on them —   
   so you are punishing them.”   
      
   Not everyone opposed paying the price. An Uber driver named Hussain, who   
   was one of the first motorists to pay the toll near the Lincoln Tunnel   
   after midnight, told The Post: “I drive an Uber, and I think it will be   
   good for us so we have less traffic.”   
      
   Hochul and the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority raced   
   against the clock to impose the toll before President-elect Donald Trump   
   takes office on Jan. 20. He has ripped congestion pricing as the “most   
   regressive tax known to womankind.”   
      
   Trump joins the 51% of New Yorkers opposed to the controversial tax, while   
   29% support it, and another 20% are unsure, according to a Siena College   
   poll earlier this month.   
      
   “This cash grab will only hurt commuters’ wallets and our local economy,   
   and I’m already hearing from tons of people who say they’ll never go to   
   Manhattan again, which will certainly have an impact on restaurants, the   
   theater and small business,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten   
   Island/Brooklyn).   
      
   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.   
      
   The agency is providing a $3 credit for passenger cars with EZPass that   
   enter the toll zone through the Lincoln, Queens-Midtown, Hugh L. Carey or   
   Holland tunnels during peak hours.   
      
   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.   
      
   Opponents such as Susan Lee urged the MTA to first modernize the system   
   and make it safer.   
      
   “I try to only go on the subway during rush hour because it’s not safe,”   
   said Lee, a Chinatown activist and president of New Yorkers Against   
   Congestion Pricing Tax.   
      
   The $9 “entry fee” would devastate Chinatown and other toll-zone   
   neighborhoods such as Little Italy and the Lower East Side by driving up   
   delivery costs and making travel too expensive for customers, she warned.   
      
   And the scheme has been met with fierce opposition by working-class   
   commuters — including teachers and cops, firefighters and other first   
   responders — who say they will unfairly have to bear the financial cost of   
   the added tolls.   
      
   https://nypost.com/wp-   
   content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/96150354.jpg?resize=720,480&quality=75&str   
   ip=all   
      
   There’s at least 10 pending lawsuits opposing congestion tolling, but   
   experts have said it’ll be more difficult to put the brakes on it once   
   it’s up and running.   
      
   A federal judge on Friday shot down New Jersey’s emergency request to stop   
   the new tolling program, and an appellate panel upheld the rejection   
   Saturday.   
      
   The congestion tolls began slamming drivers the same day the Port   
   Authority also raised prices for its bridges and tunnels.   
      
   For most vehicles, the new PA tolls will go up from $15.38 to $16.06   
   during peak hours, and $18.31 without E-ZPass.   
      
   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.   
      
   https://nypost.com/2025/01/05/us-news/hochuls-9-nyc-congestion-tolls-set-   
   to-roll-out-jan-5/   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)