Seven years ago, the commotion of New York City life and years of frustration with subway delays led my family to a quieter life in Port Washington. Since then, I’ve relied on the Long Island Rail Road for my daily commute back and forth from the city for work. I’m not alone—millions of New Yorkers, especially those who live outside the city, depend on our region’s transit system every single day.
New York’s traffic and transit challenges are more than daily nuisances—they’re existential threats to our economy, environment, and quality of life. Congestion pricing, which launched Sunday, is the lifeline we need to secure the future of public transit and bring order to our clogged streets.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s congestion pricing plan offers a two-fold solution to these intertwined problems. The $9 toll for vehicles entering Manhattan’s Central Business District during peak hours isn’t just a fee—it’s a transformative opportunity. The program will generate $15 billion to fund critical improvements to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) while reducing traffic and improving air quality.
The LIRR, which 80% of Long Island commuters rely on to get to work, is in dire need of these investments. Reagan-era equipment, reduced schedules stemming from the pandemic, and ongoing reliability issues have frustrated commuters for years. Congestion pricing will direct $1.5 billion to vital Long Island Rail Road projects, including upgrading signals, repairing platforms and stations, improving accessibility for disabled and elderly riders, and adding modern train cars to replace outdated models. These upgrades will ensure smoother, more reliable service and faster commutes for riders.
Meanwhile, traffic congestion on the Long Island Expressway and other major routes is at a breaking point. At peak hours, standstill traffic ripples outward, clogging highways and local roads, wasting valuable time, and worsening air pollution. Congestion pricing is expected to reduce the number of vehicles entering Manhattan’s congestion zone by at least 80,000 each day, easing gridlock and making travel smoother for suburban drivers when they do need to drive into the city.
I occasionally freelance as a videographer, and on days when I need to carry camera and lighting equipment into the city, I would gladly pay $9 – which is cheaper than an off-peak, one way ticket from Port Washington into Midtown Manhattan – in exchange for a quicker, more reliable drive. If transit riders are already paying more for reliable access to the city, it’s only fair that drivers also contribute to the solution—especially when congestion pricing benefits drivers directly by keeping people off the road.
Congestion pricing is a win for everyone. For the overwhelming majority of Long Islanders who commute by train, it means a better, more reliable transit system. For drivers, it means less time stuck in traffic and less stress on the occasions when driving is necessary. And for all New Yorkers, it means cleaner air, improved health outcomes, and a healthier planet. Best of all, these improvements come without relying on taxes that would unfairly burden residents who live and work locally on Long Island.
Opponents of congestion pricing offer no solutions to the problems we face. They provide no plan to reduce traffic, no strategy to improve public transit, and no ideas to combat pollution that harms our children and communities. Every day, we bear the cost of lost time, deteriorating infrastructure, and poor air quality. The price of inaction is far greater than a $9 toll.
The time to act is now. Congestion pricing offers Long Islanders and all New Yorkers a path to better transit, cleaner air, and less traffic. Let’s not let empty rhetoric derail the lifeline our region desperately needs.
Joe Del Senno is a Port Washington resident.
