A New Jersey mayor is proposing the idea of a reverse congestion pricing toll after New York City implemented its controversial congestion pricing toll last week.
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, who is also running for governor of the Garden State, floated the idea, according to Fox 5 New York.
“New Jersey has the same opportunity to push the buttons that New York is pushing against us,” Fulop told the outlet. “We could do that to them, but the goal is to get to a table to have a reasonable solution.”
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Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop speaks during a rally organized by the workers union 32BJ SEIU in support of a strike of Newark Airport workers in Newark on March 31, 2016. (Getty Images)
The mayor said he believes reverse congestion pricing is the appropriate response to New York City’s new toll, which imposes fees on vehicles that enter busy parts of Manhattan as a way to encourage people to take the subway.
“There’s plenty of crossings between Staten Island, New York, Bergen County, Hudson County into New Jersey,” Fulop said. “There’s plenty of opportunities to have the same sort of impact fee that New York is putting on New Jersey.”
Fulop said he believes the money made from reverse congestion pricing should fund New Jersey’s mass transit system, which has suffered from delays and cancelations.
Congestion pricing plate readers are installed over Lexington Avenue on December 18, 2023, in New York City. (Getty Images)
“My view is that New Jersey Transit is a terrible product, and it should be invested in more, and until you get a reliable transportation system in New Jersey, you can’t responsibly think that people are going to take the trains,” Fulop said. “But this was an opportunity to get hundreds of millions of dollars into New Jersey Transit, and I think the governor just took a very easy political approach.”
There was initially the possibility for New Jersey to receive hundreds of millions of dollars from New York City’s new toll, but that fell through amid litigation.
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Overhead equipment installed on New York City streets for the controversial congestion pricing plan. (Getty Images)
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The details of Fulop’s proposal are not yet finalized, but he said gantries or toll sites could be stationed outside of tunnels and bridges in New Jersey.
He said that, similar to congestion pricing, there may be exemptions or crossing credits.
It is unclear if New Jersey residents would be required to pay the toll to reenter their home state like some New Yorkers do for congestion pricing.
