After decades of absolutely awful traffic, New York had the neat idea to charge people money if they wanted to drive into the most crowded parts of Manhattan. You can still take public transportation, walk or ride a bike, but if you insist on driving into lower Manhattan, you have to pay $9. This has, of course, upset New Jersey, which depends on being able to drive into Manhattan for free in order to function. Now the state’s governor is begging President Trump to intervene and stop those mean New Yorkers from incentivizing New Jersey residents to take the train to work, the New York Times reports.
This certainly isn’t the first time Governor Phil Murphy has pitched a fit about congestion pricing. The state already sued New York and lost, and it’s currently proposing some sort of reverse congestion pricing plan. It doesn’t really make a lot of sense, in part because no one’s just dying to drive to Newark. Of course, if Murphy had taken New York’s earlier offer to share some of the revenue it earns from congestion pricing, the state would already be making money on this deal, but no, he’d rather hold out hope that Trump will somehow force New York to stop charging people to drive into lower Manhattan.
In the letter, Murphy complained about congestion pricing and reminded Trump of his many negative comments regarding the plan, including calling it “the worst plan in the history of womankind.” He then pulled every NIMBY’s favorite move and said that while he supports the concept of congestion pricing, the plan just needs more time to come together, and a lot of things need to be studied. Won’t you think about middle and low-class New Jersians who can’t take public transportation but need to get into Manhattan anyway for some reason?
Murphy said he also plans to amend a lawsuit against the Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration, and he asked Trump to give congestion pricing “the close look it deserved but did not receive from the federal government last year.” Exactly how that would work still isn’t clear, but darn it, he really wants someone to put a stop to this whole congestion pricing thing, and if one lawsuit didn’t work, he’s going to try something else. Except for taking the train. He’ll try anything except take the train.