Congestion Charge For NYC Drivers Considered As Way To Save Subway: Report

NEW YORK CITY, NY – A plan to raise money for the deteriorating subway by charging driver to come into parts of Manhattan is being considered by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to a report.

“Congestion pricing is an idea whose time has come,” Cuomo told the New York Times.

While he didn’t go into detail about his plans, the Times said the governor is trying to resurrect an idea most recently proposed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

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Under that plan, drivers would have been charged $8 to drive into the busiest parts of Manhattan during peak hours. The goal was to ease traffic and raise hundreds of millions of dollars, but lawmakers in Albany ultimately rejected the proposal.

The Times report comes after Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed a “millionaire's’ tax” to raise about $800 million a year for the subway system.

De Blasio, who has been feuding with Cuomo over the beleaguered state of the subway system, previously said he would be willing to consider supporting congestion pricing.

The Times said Cuomo thinks congestion pricing could make it through the state legislature this time around since it is a time of crisis.

“There is an awareness of the need to make a basic policy shift,” the governor was quoted as saying.

Recent years have seen cities from Singapore to the U.K. enact congestion charges. In London, drivers pay nearly $15 to get around a designated zone on weekdays.

Read the New York Times report here.

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Lead image by Richard Drew/Associated Press.