Incoming State Senators Say They Support Congestion Pricing, But …

Well, at least six new State Senators can't wait to get to Albany to pass congestion pricing.

Senators-elect Alessandra Biaggi, Andrew Gounardes, Robert Jackson, Zellnor Myrie, Jessica Ramos and Julia Salazar issued a joint statement Wednesday in support of tolling drivers to enter parts of Manhattan — a proposal that Gov. Cuomo has said is a priority, but one that the state legislature has heretofore shrugged off, despite its potential to raise critical funding for the MTA.

"This statement matters because it's momentum for congestion pricing from a group of newly elected progressive senators, who ran on a platform of fixing the broken subway system and who see why fixing the subway is a social justice issue," Riders Alliance Executive Director John Raskin said.

The statement came one day after two legislative leaders told Streetsblog that congestion pricing remains in doubt in Albany, thanks to outer-borough lawmakers who wrongly believe tolls to enter the central business district of Manhattan will punish their constituents — even though very few residents drive into "the city," and the ones who do tend to be wealthier.

“We personally support congestion pricing, but our appointing body is not there yet,” Assembly Member Amy Paulin, a Democrat from Westchester who now leads a committee that oversees the MTA. Her Senate colleague Michael Gianaris added, "We have not done a head count,” Gianaris added. “There are skeptics about congestion pricing, I think, in both houses.”

Other lawmakers — including Manhattan Assembly Member Dick Gottfried and Senator Brad Hoylman — have told Streetsblog that overcoming the outer-borough bias against tolls will require substantial leadership from Gov. Cuomo, who has undermined his own ability to strong-arm ambivalent lawmakers by himself doubting whether the MTA can fix the subways even with funding.

Still, advocates hailed the statement from the six newcomers as a "big boost," in the words of the Riders Alliance. That said, it is unclear how many seats have swung from "no" to "yes" with the election of the newcomers Biaggi, Gounardes, Jackson, Myrie, Ramos, and Salazar. Only one — Biaggi, who beat Jeff Klein — defeated a lawmaker who was not committed to congestion pricing. (Rachael May, an incoming Senator from upstate who is not on the joint statement, told Streetsblog earlier this year that she was "inclined" to support congestion pricing. She defeated a lawmaker who didn't take a public position but was proud to boast that he never rode the subway.)

Here is the full statement from Alessandra Biaggi, Andrew Gounardes, Robert Jackson, Zellnor Myrie, Jessica Ramos and Julia Salazar: