Protesters march in Manhattan on what would have been congestion pricing eve
Dozens of protesters marched in Midtown Saturday, lamenting what they'd hoped would be the eve of congestion pricing in Manhattan.
Kirby Kersels, 30, said he and his partner, the artist Emilie Gossiaux, had bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate the launch of the tolls.
"We were going to go watch cars go through it and drink champagne. I know you're not supposed to drink in public, but we were going to do it," Kersels said.
But now he was protesting Gov. Kathy Hochul's indefinite pause of the tolls, which would have charged drivers a base fare of $15 to travel south of 60th Street. The revenue from the program would have funded improvements to transit, including accessibility projects that made the system easier for people with disabilities.
Kersel's partner is blind and relies on elevators to access the subway system. She was hit by a truck driver in 2010 and spent six months in a coma.
"I'm almost speechless, I'm so angry," Kersels said at the march organized by the street safety group Transportation Alternatives.
Hochul has pledged to find funding to replace the $15 billion that the MTA can no longer count on from congestion pricing. But in the meantime, the MTA has slashed projects from its capital plan due to the budget gap caused by Hochul's pause.
"There is no reason for New Yorkers to be concerned that any planned projects will not be delivered," Hochul said last week in a statement. She has said the tolls were too much of an economic burden on drivers, and put Manhattan's economic recovery at risk.
Kersels was among the crowd that marched from the edge of the tolling zone at 60th Street, passing under cameras that would've tolled drivers. The cameras cost $550 million, though there's no timeline for them to be activated.
"Instead of being a day of celebration, it's a day of resolution. It's a day to keep fighting and keep pushing," Anjali Bhat, 39, of Astoria, Queens, said.
Sara Lind, the co-executive director of the street safety group Open Plans, vowed to make Hochul pay a political price if she doesn't reverse the pause.
"This epic failure is going to be her legacy," Lind said. "Because she's up for re-election in 2026 and if she doesn't start congestion pricing, we are not going to forget."
