The fight against New York City's congestion pricing plan is getting more support, as some residents in a Manhattan neighborhood have filed a new class action lawsuit to stop the $15 toll before it begins.
With heavy traffic on the FDR Drive on Thursday, those who live in the area worry when the congestion pricing plan is enacted, it will actually get worse rather than better.
"This would be devastating — absolutely devastating," said Lower East Side resident Aixa Torres about the congestion pricing plan. "My God, this is insane. Hit me one more time with something else I have to pay for."
She is one of dozens who joined a class action lawsuit filed Thursday.
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"My voice and that of my neighbors have been ignored and dismissed," said fellow Lower East Side resident Trevor Holland. "How is that fair. How is that just and how is that legal?”
Their complaint doesn't just center around the cost of the MTA’s congestion toll, which would charge cars $15 in addition to a surcharge for cabs and for-hire vehicles. Trucks entering Manhattan at 60th Street or below face a toll of $24 to $36.
The new lawsuit contends the MTA is ignoring the environmental impact on neighborhoods that could see more traffic as a result.
"They did an environmental assessment which is a rubber stamp. That’s how serious the MTA is," said Queens Councilman Bob Holden.
But the MTA maintains that the nation’s first congestion toll will raise billions of dollars to modernize the aging subway system. As for pollution, a spokesman said "the issue has been exhaustively studied in the 4,000-plus page environmental assessment, and will be re-evaluated for the adopted tolling structure before tolling commences."
The lawsuit joins other legal action already in progress. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, teachers union president Mike Mulgrew and New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer have already gone to court.
But commuter advocates don't believe those opposed are sincere about environmental concerns.
"There’s no way they’re going to be satisfied with more years of study. They’re trying to kill the program outright," said Danny Pearlstein of the Riders Alliance, siding with the MTA.
What has yet to been seen is whether any of the lawsuits will slow down the momentum of congestion pricing, which is currently scheduled to begin rolling drivers by late spring this year. A lawyer involved in the class action lawsuit predicted that all the lawsuits will eventually combine, then there will be more clarity from a judge about whether the plan will be allowed to move forward.
