Queens lawmakers demand more MTA bus service to Manhattan before $15 congestion toll begins
NY Post
Queens lawmakers who voted for the unpopular $15 “congestion” toll to enter parts of Manhattan are demanding that the MTA increase express bus service to their neighboring borough before the new fee is imposed.
But opponents of the new toll to enter Midtown south of 60th Street scoffed that the Queens legislators are scrambling because they’re feeling the wrath from constituents over the congestion pricing law.
The call for more express bus service into Manhattan from ten Queens senators and assembly members came after the borough was excluded from similar mass transit expansions announced for Brooklyn and Staten Island bus routes.
The ten lawmakers penned a letter Wednesday to Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman and CEO Janno Lieber, imploring him to “expand express bus service in Queens in order to attract more public transit riders when congestion pricing takes effect.”
“Express buses play a vital role in Queens’ public transit network and only stand to become even more pivotal in the near and distant future,” said the signers including state Sens. John Liu, Leroy Comrie, Toby Ann Stavisky, Michael Gianaris, Julia Salazar and James Sanders.
The Midtown toll, backed by Gov Kathy Hochul after her predecessor Andrew Cuomo approved the congestion pricing law, is expected to take effect June 30.
