NEW CITY – Rockland County continues to pay far more into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority than it receives in services and County Executive Ed Day criticized the agency for its “woefully inadequate” service into New York City.
Rockland has no one-seat rail ride into Manhattan, “Our ‘transit desert’ status forces Rockland County drivers to pay tolls at the Tappan Zee Bridge, George Washington Bridge, and Lincoln Tunnel for decades to enter Manhattan, while drivers from any other Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District communities encounter no tolls at all despite having vastly better transit alternatives they could be using instead of driving,” he said.
Day said none of the congestion pricing plan scenarios include tolling the free East River bridges. “Under the current proposal, commuters from Rockland and other areas will have to pay bridge tolls to drive into Manhattan and then pay the congestion pricing toll when they cross the zone while drivers crossing the East River bridges – who already have significant service including access to the subway system – have no bridge tolls.”
He said Rockland cannot support MTA’s proposed Central Business District Tolling Program “unless the county commuters are provided with a CBD toll exemption or significant discount and a toll credit for the Hudson River crossing tolls, they already pay to enter Manhattan.”
