The MTA’s plan to exempt some New York City fleet vehicles from congestion pricing tolls came into clearer focus Monday, as the transit agency prepared to approve its final version of the tolling plan later this week.
As first reported by the Daily News, the agency has proposed exempting yellow school buses, privately operated commuter buses, and certain city vehicles on official business from its plan to toll vehicles entering Midtown and lower Manhattan.
The congestion pricing plan has long had a built-in exemption for emergency vehicles, and the plan approved by the MTA in December included exemptions for “specialized government vehicles” like street sweepers and snow plows.
That exemption will expand to include certain non-specialized vehicles owned and operated by the city and used for official city business, officials in Mayor Adams’ office and the MTA said Monday.
Examples include building inspectors or child services workers responding to calls in a city-owned car, mayoral spokeswoman Liz Garcia said.
MTA officials said Monday that City Hall would be providing a detailed list of specific vehicles that required such an exemption, and that the list would have to be approved by the transit agency.
An MTA spokesperson estimated that the city exemption would apply to less than half of the non-emergency municipal fleet.
The MTA’s board is expected to vote on a final version of the tolling plan Wednesday, ahead of the expected June start of congestion pricing.
Meanwhile, Patrick Condren, a lobbyist representing several of the region’s private bus operators — including the Hampton Jitney, Coach USA and Academy buses — welcomed the MTA’s decision to extend an exemption to any bus that is open to the public and runs on a regular schedule.
“The private bus industry is clearly part of the public transit system,” Condren told reporters Monday outside a meeting of the MTA’s board. “We are providing a public service to the riding public, and we’re pleased and happy to see that the MTA recognizes that.”
A spokesperson for the Amalgamated Transit Union local 1181-1061, which represents school bus workers, declined to comment on the proposed school bus exemption before the MTA votes on the tolling structure.
Michael Mulgrew, head of the United Federation of Teachers — which is suing the MTA in federal court over the congestion pricing plan, claiming it will increase traffic outside of Manhattan as well as place a financial burden on teachers who drive to work in the congestion zone — did not comment on the proposed school bus exemption.
Mulgrew did, however, take issue with the MTA’s decision not to exempt city workers’ personal automobiles.
“Our lawsuit focused on the inequalities of the congestion pricing plan, both environmental and economic,” he said. “Unfortunately, many of those inequalities have still not been addressed and so it will be up to the court to decide.”
With Cayla Bamberger
