(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said that while he’s committed to trying to block New York City’s congestion pricing plan, he’s open to negotiating a deal that would allocate a portion of the revenue to his state.
“We’re going to try like heck” to stop congestion pricing, he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Friday. “I don’t know what the alternative is for the MTA, but I strongly would like to encourage them to pursue other avenues,” he added, referring to New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The federal government this week approved a $9 tolling structure for New York City’s plan to charge drivers entering large parts of Manhattan, a key step for the congestion pricing program as it moves toward an anticipated Jan. 5 start date.
Murphy, 67, a former investment banker for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said he would be willing to discuss a revenue-sharing deal with New York officials.
“Get us to the table,” he told reporters in an earlier interview. “We’ll come with good intentions, and if there’s a reasonable deal, we’ll figure it out. And that has not happened.”
The plan is an attempt to reduce traffic congestion and pollution while raising money for the MTA, which runs the city’s subways, buses and commuter rail lines. Murphy, a Democrat, has been a vocal opponent of the initiative, saying it puts an undue burden on New Jersey commuters who drive into New York for work.
“I don’t know what that deal looks like. But it would have to include money coming back our way. I just don’t see any other way,” he added.
The Federal Highway Administration on Thursday signed off on a revised congestion pricing structure that New York Governor Kathy Hochul reduced by 40% to help working families and small businesses absorb the new fee, according to documents posted Friday to the MTA website. The FHWA, the state and New York City also signed a value-pricing pilot program agreement for the plan.
“While this policy’s obviously controversial, I hope New Yorkers, whatever their opinion, can recognize that this is a significant moment when we are saying that we can do things to address the big challenges that we as a city and as a region face,” Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chief executive officer, told reporters Friday following the federal approval.
New Jersey sued the federal government last year, claiming it hadn’t done an adequate environmental review of the tolling program. Murphy claims the plan would increase congestion and pollution in his state along routes that avoid the central business district in Manhattan, such as towns near the George Washington Bridge.
His lawyers have urged the judge to rule and said lowering the toll doesn’t resolve the “defects” in the environmental review process.
On Friday, Judge Leo Gordon, who is overseeing New Jersey’s suit in US District Court, set an in-person status conference for Tuesday. It will be the first time the parties will meet before the judge following the federal government’s approval of the $9 tolling plan.
In a wide-ranging interview, Murphy also said:
- He plans to talk to President-elect Donald Trump about lifting the cap on state and local tax deductions that was enacted during Trump’s first term. Trump said during his campaign that he would be open to lifting the threshold which can help residents in high-tax states like New Jersey reduce their taxable income
- Despite Trump losing New Jersey by a slimmer margin than his last run, Murphy still doesn’t think it’s a swing-state. He noted that down-ballot contests were more favorable for Democrat candidates
- He is hopeful Trump, a New York native, will be helpful in addressing the transportation needs of the New York-New Jersey region
- The summer of hellish train commutes on New Jersey Transit in and out of Manhattan, which included delays and breakdowns, “clouded progress” that has been made at the agency under his administration
--With assistance from Romaine Bostick and Scarlet Fu.
(Updates with more comments from Murphy in an exclusive interview in the final paragraph.)
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