The following letter was sent to Janno Lieber, Chair and CEO of the MTA, and Veronica Vanterpool, Acting Administrator for the Federal Transit Administration

Dear Chair Lieber and Acting Administrator Vanterpool:

Thank you for your strong support of public transit investment in the New York City metropolitan area. We write today as a unified group of environmental, transit, good government, and community-based organizations that have long supported a congestion pricing program for New York City. After five years of study and analysis, the program was intended to start at the end of this month, generating $15 billion for public transit investment over five years. 100% of the revenues were to be dedicated to the MTA capital program. In addition to the significant economic benefits of the MTA and the projects that would come from congestion pricing, benefits of the program include improved air quality and a reduction in traffic that clogs our Central Business District.

Analyzing the 2023-2026 State Transportation Improvement Program, our groups find $9.9 billion allocated from the Federal Transit Administration currently listed in the MTA region. Attached is a list showing 95 projects that are currently listed in the 2023-2026 State Transportation Improvement Program with federal funding, and, for which the MTA and/or its properties, is listed as the responsible agency. As stated, the federal funding for these projects totals nearly $10 billion. The state contribution is $14.7 billion. We write to ask how much of this is at risk with the congestion pricing delay.

We were deeply dismayed when the congestion pricing program was put on pause by Governor Hochul, and we worry that a delay will have significant, long-term impacts on the MTA’s ability to pay for its current capital program and jeopardize future capital programs.

The Governor has not canceled the congestion pricing program altogether. Rather she has put the program on ​“pause.” We remain hopeful it will begin at some point later this year, however, there is no information about the Governor’s intentions.

As such, should congestion pricing implementation be delayed past this year, we write to request information from the Federal Transit Administration and MTA about which projects would be impacted and the level of those impacts.

Thank you for providing any information and other information you might be able to provide about the impact of this decision.

Sincerely,

Kate Slevin, Executive Vice President, Regional Plan Association

Julie Tighe, President, New York League of Conservation Voters

Jon Orcutt, Advocacy Director, Bike New York

John Kaehny, Executive Director, Reinvent Albany

Jaqi Cohen, Director of Climate and Equity Policy, Tri-State Transportation Campaign

Sara Lind, Co-Executive Director, Open Plans

Eric Mcclure, Executive Director, StreetsPac

Andy Darrell, Senior Advisor, Environmental Defense Fund

Christina Furlong, Founding Member & Advocate, Make Queens Safer

Betsy Plum, Executive Director, Riders Alliance

Jessica Murray, Organizer, Rise & Resist Elevator Action Group

Brian Donahue, Senior Government Affairs Manager, American Institute of Architects, New York

Jessica Ottney Mahar, New York Policy & Strategy Director, The Nature Conservancy

Samara Karasyk, President & CEO, Hudson Square BID

James Whelan, President, Real Estate Board of New York

Kevin Garcia, Senior Transportation Planner, NYC Environmental Justice Alliance

Christopher Schuyler, Managing Attorney, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest

Alex Matthiessen, Director, Move NY

Carlo Scissura, President New York Building Congress

Elizabeth Adams, Co-Executive Director Transportation Alternatives