I’ve long admired John Samuelsen, the head of the national Transport Workers Union (TWU). He is effective at advancing the interests of his members and a leader in the union-driven movement to reestablish America’s middle class and uphold our democracy.
And he’s smart. I know because during the years I was leading Move NY, the campaign to bring congestion pricing to New York City, we met occasionally for a friendly breakfast to talk shop.
Samuelsen rallied TWU to throw its considerable weight behind congestion pricing and he was instrumental in securing its passage by the Legislature in 2019. With raucous rallies and deployment of lobbyists to Albany, he and the TWU helped bring along the final legislators needed to vote congestion pricing into law and cement the victory.
New Yorkers can thank John Samuelsen — and other unions and hundreds of civic organizations — for New York being the first in the nation to adopt this innovative program, which is set to start in June and is predicted to significantly reduce traffic and air pollution, improve transit, and create safer streets. Following our lead, major cities across the country have begun crafting their own programs, realizing the undeniable benefits of congestion pricing.
So it is disappointing that Samuelsen has now decided to use the threat of torpedoing congestion pricing as leverage in his disputes with MTA management. To boot, he has also tried to secure toll exemptions for members of his union — even though TWU’s transit workers already ride public transit for free, as they should, and that any exemption to the toll means that the rest of us will have to pay more.
It’s the height of cynicism to assume the public is so dumb that one can support a program one day — for several years in fact — and threaten to destroy that same program the next. What’s even harder to wrap one’s head around is that his actions are self-sabotaging. There may be no constituency that stands to gain more from congestion pricing than TWU and its members whom Samuelsen has served for decades.
Who do you think will receive a large chunk of the $15 billion in added revenue to MTA from the new tolls to do the work required to improve and expand transit service? The TWU, to the tune of about $3-4 billion dollars, or more than 20% of the funding. By turning against congestion pricing at the 11th hour, Samuelsen is standing in the way of billions in contract work for his own union.
As to who will be hit hardest by the new tolls? It’s not TWU members. Very few of them report to work inside the Central Business District Tolling Zone (Manhattan south of 60th St.), where the new tolls will be applied. And of those who do, the vast majority take the subway, bus or commuter train; they do not tend to drive themselves to work via personal cars.
So, when John says, “The toll will whip blue collar, outer borough workers,” one has to wonder, who, exactly, is he talking about? And when he lambasts Gov. Hochul — who has been steadfast in backing congestion pricing — what is he hoping to accomplish? By his own admission, he is holding hostage a program he at least once supported and knows is critical to our transit system’s future, all just to extract concessions from the MTA.
Samuelsen justifies his political sabotage as turnabout for the MTA’s failure to expand transit service ahead of the rollout of congestion pricing. While we advocates always want to see more service, particularly to reach those who still live in so-called “transit deserts,” the truth is that the MTA has made progress in shrinking the number and size of those areas through expansions of the system and service upgrades.
The irony of Samuelsen’s claim is that the MTA won’t be able to deliver more of this increased service without the funding that congestion pricing will bring.
Samuelsen is within his rights to get the best deal he can for his Metro-North members. But he has gone off the proverbial rails in threatening to bury an initiative that will provide work for his union, reduce traffic congestion by double digits, cut emissions and lower asthma rates, make our streets safer, and help New York bring our transit system fully into the 21st century.
John, we cannot afford to go back to the bad old days of broken down subways, buses and commuter rails. New Yorkers and your members deserve better.
Matthiessen is an environmental advocate and consultant who launched and spearheaded the Move NY congestion pricing campaign from 2010-19, which led to the program’s 2019 enactment.
