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A Long Island town claims in a new federal lawsuit that the city’s subway system is a dangerous, unreasonable alternative for commuters who want to avoid congestion pricing.
The town of Hempstead in Nassau County on Wednesday became the latest municipality seeking to block the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s congestion pricing program, which is set to take effect June 30 and charge most motorists $15 to enter Manhattan’s core, with a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Eastern District of New York against state and federal transit officials.
The suit mimics claims made by New Jersey that congestion pricing was not adequately studied and is unconstitutional but specifically takes aim at mass transit.
The lawsuit argues that Hempstead residents and town employees “do not have a reasonable mass transit alternative,” despite having a Long Island Rail Road station in the heart of town. Hempstead officials take particular issue with the MTA’s push for commuters to use the city’s subway for trips within Manhattan below 60th Street, pointing to safety concerns underground.
“The primary mass transit option in the city, the subway, is so dangerous that the governor has sent the National Guard into the subway system to provide security,” the lawsuit states, referring to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s controversial March deployment of 750 National Guard soldiers to assist the NYPD with bag checks for weapon searches.
“The police and National Guard are requiring mandatory searches of private citizens’ bags for the ‘privilege’ of use of the subway,” the lawsuit adds, “a ‘privilege’ that the defendants are presently trying to force on the people of the town by penalizing other means of entry into and transportation within the city by means of congestion pricing.”
In a statement, Hempstead Town Supervisor Donald Clavin, who is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, claimed that congestion pricing will “come at the expense of hardworking Nassau residents who are just trying to get to work.” The official also insists that congestion pricing has no benefit for Long Island residents.
The MTA, meanwhile, has said congestion pricing will generate $1 billion in annual revenue that the authority will bond to $15 billion to pay for upgrades to the subway, buses and commuter rail networks, such as the LIRR.
LIRR President Rob Free chastised Hempstead officials for the lawsuit as well as for past opposition to commuter rail upgrades, such as the third track expansion project that ultimately increased service reliability on the LIRR. “I would say this is an investment in Long Island’s future,” Free said in a statement to Crain’s.
MTA spokesman Mike Cortez pointed to a recent decline in subway crime.
After a brief uptick in certain crimes on the subway, along with a high-profile Brooklyn shooting earlier this year, the number of incidents is currently down 6.4% compared to this time last year, according to NYPD crime statistics. Police say 661 crimes were reported in the subway this year through April 28, down from the 706 incidents logged during the same period in 2023.
Hempstead’s challenge follows half a dozen other lawsuits filed against the toll in recent months, including by state and municipal leaders in New Jersey, Staten Island elected officials, the United Federation of Teachers union and a group of Lower East Side residents who’ve raised environmental justice concerns. All of the lawsuits seek to halt the program and force MTA and federal transit officials to conduct additional analysis of the toll.
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Caroline Spivack , 2024-05-03 17:38:29
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