NJ Mayor Asks Why Can't The Garden State Play The Congestion Pricing Game?

Photo: Getty Images North America

Now that New York has imposed congestion pricing on commuters traveling from New Jersey into Manhattan, what’s to stop New Jersey from imposing congestion pricing on commuters heading into the Garden State? That’s the thinking of one New Jersey gubernatorial hopeful. Steve Fulop, who currently is the mayor of Jersey City, says the reverse congestion pricing plan is not a vindictive form of tit-for-tat; if anything, as he explained on the WOR Morning Show, the plan would make sure revenue meant to maintain infrastructure is shared on both sides of the Hudson.

“I think the point of it is that we are a regional economy, and we are a regional transportation system,” Fulop told host Larry Mendte. “I think that Governor Murphy has taken a really poor approach to how he’s fought congestion pricing, because ultimately he went through the courts. We lost at the courts, we got no money for it, and congestion pricing is here. So, you’ve got to get New York back to the table. We have leverage with our own congestion pricing, and then ultimately we should be sharing in the revenue for the region, That’s kind of the thought process and I think it makes a lot of sense.”

Fulop contends that imposing congestion pricing on drivers in both states is a common-sense solution to the problem: “The reality is, when people say that New Jersey don’t use the MTA system, it’s just not true. People from New Jersey take the subway every day after they take the bus and the train to the Port Authority. Likewise, people from New York rely on New Jersey Transit because we are vital to the New York economy, meaning New Jersey residents. So, we are intertwined, we should benefit from it, and sometimes in politics, in government you’ve got to exert leverage and be a little tough, and litigation is not always the solution.”

Photo Credit: Getty Images


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