New Jersey mayor rolls out “reverse congestion pricing” toll in response to New York City’s controversial toll

A New Jersey The mayor is proposing the idea of ​​a reverse congestion pricing toll after New York City implemented a controversial congestion pricing toll last week.

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, who is also running for governor of the Garden State, floated the idea, according to Fox 5 New York.

“New Jersey has the same opportunity to push the buttons that New York pushes against us,” Fulop told the outlet. “We can do that to them, but the goal is to get to the table to come up with a reasonable solution.”

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The mayor said he believes reverse congestion pricing is the appropriate response to it New York City New tolls, which impose fees on vehicles entering congested areas of Manhattan as a way to encourage people to use the subway.

“There are a lot of crossings between Staten Island and New York and Bergen County and Hudson County to New Jersey,” Fulop said. “There’s a lot of opportunity to get the same kind of impact fees that New York charges New Jersey.”

Fulop said he believes the money from reverse congestion pricing should fund New Jersey Mass transportation systemWhich suffered from delays and cancellations.

“My view is that New Jersey Transit is a bad product, should be invested in more, and until you get a reliable transit system in New Jersey, you can’t responsibly believe that people will take trains,” Fulop said. He said. “But this was an opportunity to get hundreds of millions of dollars into New Jersey Transit, and I think the governor took a very easy policy approach.”

There was initially the possibility of New Jersey getting hundreds of millions of dollars from New York City’s new fees, but that fell through amid litigation.

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Details of Fulop’s proposal have not yet been finalized, but he said bridges or toll collection sites could be stationed outside tunnels and bridges in New Jersey.

Similar to congestion pricing, there may be transit exemptions or credits, he said.

It’s not clear whether New Jersey residents will be required to pay tolls to return to their home state as some New Yorkers do with congestion pricing.