Murphy suit says NYC congestion pricing discriminates against NJ drivers

The Murphy administration has asked to update its lawsuit over the New York congestion pricing plan with new arguments that the tolls are discriminatory against New Jersey drivers.

The revised lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, includes several examples of how motorists from the Garden State could face discrimination and argues that the new toll would violate the commerce clause of the Constitution.

The primary purpose of that clause is to “prevent states from enacting regulatory measures designed to ‘benefit in-state economic interests by burdening out-of-state competitors,’” the lawsuit says.

The suit argues that the toll would be discriminatory because it is only for those who enter the Central Business District, which is the tolling zone below 60th Street in Manhattan, and doesn’t include those driving only within the district; because drivers who use the Lincoln and Holland tunnels will pay at least 1½ times more than New Yorkers to enter the tolling zone; and because low-income drivers in New Jersey are not eligible for the low-income tax credit available to New York residents who live in the zone.

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“It is now abundantly clear that the tolling scheme’s objective is to deter, impede, and penalize New Jerseyans’ right to travel from New Jersey" to Manhattan's Central Business District, the updated lawsuit says. It was filed by lawyers from the New York-based firm King & Spalding, LLP on behalf of New Jersey.

This is one of four lawsuits filed in New Jersey and New York in federal and state courts to attempt to end congestion pricing, which is expected to go into effect in late spring of this year.

Congestion pricing is designed to toll drivers who enter the most congested portion of the city, midtown Manhattan below 60th Street, except those who remain on the perimeter highways.

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The goals of the program are to reduce congestion, improve air quality and generate $1 billion a year for the MTA's public transportation capital program.

Under the plan, those with E-ZPass would pay $15 at peak hours on weekdays and weekends. The toll would be $22.50 for those without E-ZPass at peak hours on weekdays and weekends.

There would be $5 credits for those who use the Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Queens-Midtown Tunnel or Hugh Carey Tunnel, a $3.75 toll off-peak between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. on weekdays, and a $3.75 toll off-peak on weekends between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m.

There are different rates for trucks.

Two new plaintiffs

In addition, the Garden State asked to include two new plaintiffs in the lawsuit, East Orange resident Timothy Horner and Union City resident Eric Grossman, who were featured in a NorthJersey.com report in October that detailed concerns from New Jersey residents worried about the effects of congestion pricing on their lives.

Horner, a percussionist, and Grossman, a parent whose daughter performs at the Metropolitan Opera, said they don’t have great public transportation alternatives during overnight hours, when performances end, which forces them to drive.

Both Horner and Grossman, who according to the lawsuit are paid less than $60,000 a year, should be eligible for the low-income tax credit, their lawyers argue. The lawsuit does not mention Grossman’s commute to pick up his daughter, but rather his work as a curator of the string instrument collection at The Juilliard School, which requires him to deliver instruments, preventing him from taking public transportation.

Horner and Grossman are represented by attorneys from the New York-based firm Walden Macht & Haran LLP.

Truckers blocked a Rhode Island toll plan

The American Trucking Associations recently had success in ending a new toll program proposed in Rhode Island that they alleged was discriminatory. The trucking association accused Rhode Island of trying to avoid tolling in-state drivers and businesses, so the program was designed exclusively to toll Class 8 trucks, the largest and heaviest vehicles on the road, and excluded smaller trucks and automobiles.

Judge William E. Smith of the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island found this unconstitutional, saying in his decision that a toll program “should account in some fair way for all users of the tolled facilities.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NYC congestion pricing discriminates against NJ drivers, suit says