MTA’s lower Manhattan congestion pricing system nearly ready to go

Congestion Pricing Toll Readers are seen here installed on Third Ave. looking North at E. 60th St. Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023 in Manhattan.

Work on the network of cameras and sensors that will enable the MTA to implement congestion pricing in Midtown and lower Manhattan is nearly done, transit officials said Wednesday.

Tolling cameras have been installed at 104 of 110 locations — roughly 95% of the planned tolling points — said Allison de Cerreño, MTA’s chief operating officer for bridges and tunnels.

“We just had another one completed this morning,” de Cerreño said at a meeting of the MTA board. “The remaining sites are being worked on as I speak here today.”

The near-complete installation of the vehicle toll collection infrastructure means that the MTA can begin testing the system. Officials said the tolling network should be ready to turn on in advance of an expected June ruling in one of several federal lawsuits aimed at stopping the plan.

That suit, brought by the administration of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, alleges that the U. S. Transportation Department and the Federal Highway Administration failed to conduct a “comprehensive” and “complete” environmental review of New York’s congestion pricing plan, which New Jersey claims will cause pollution by changing regional traffic patterns.

MTA officials say traffic patterns were exhaustively studied, and steps will be taken to mitigate pollution where truck traffic may increase.

One other suit in New Jersey federal court and three in New York federal courts challenge the program along similar lines of argument. Oral arguments are scheduled in the Murphy case on April 3. A ruling is expected in June ahead of a stated June 15 launch date for the congestion pricing system.

MTA officials say the lawsuits have already delayed some of their plans for bus, subway and train infrastructure upgrades and fixes.

The congestion pricing tolling devices are installed along the congestion zone’s northern border at 60th Street, as well as at bridge and tunnel exits further south.

The cameras are also installed along the FDR Drive and the West Side Highway, both of which are excluded from the congestion toll.

The devices are designed to work much like the cashless tolling systems already in place at the region’s bridges and tunnels.

As a vehicle approaches a tolling device, it will photograph the front license plate. If the vehicle has an E-ZPass tag, the tolling system will log the E-ZPass tag number as well, before photographing the vehicle’s rear plate as it drives past.

The camera system will use infrared illumination to reduce light pollution, de Cerreño said.

The system will also classify the vehicle into one of five tolling categories based on its shape and size.

“The system’s going to use advanced technology that focuses on vehicle characteristics such as shape and other distinguishing features to determine which class a vehicle fits into,” de Cerreño said.

The cameras are also expected to use a form of machine learning to classify vehicles into tolling categories. “The more vehicles the system sees, the better it gets at classifying them,” de Cerreño said.

Under the current proposal, cars, SUVs and pickup trucks entering Manhattan at 60th St. or below would be charged a base rate of $15 an hour, with discounts for nighttime drivers or those who entered via a tolled crossing.

That rate climbs higher for larger vehicles such as box trucks, tractor-trailers, and buses.

Public hearings on the plan begin Wednesday at MTA headquarters in lower Manhattan.

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