TWU boss John Samuelsen slams congestion pricing plan: "Everybody should be angry"
NEW YORK -- The MTA's controversial congestion pricing plan now has a new and important foe -- the head of the MTA's largest union, who says that broken promises about service enhancements will hurt the working class.
John Samuelsen is no ordinary foe. He's the head of the National Transport Workers Union, and he was also on the Traffic Mobility Panel that came up with the tolling program -- until he quit in disgust because, he said, getting people to get out of their cars only works if you improve the service.
"Everybody should be angry. They're gonna get hit with a toll, and they're not going to get the beautiful-- all this wonderful public transit service increase that would have changed New York for the better has been abandoned," he said.
Samuelsen is turning his back on the MTA's congestion pricing program.
In a bombshell interview, he says congestion pricing was supposed to come with a commitment to massive service increases, like doubling express bus service, increased express bus intervals and increased train service.
"All of that never happened, and it should be happening and it's not," Samuelsen said.
But that's not all that's got the union boss boiling. He's furious that government workers assigned to work in the congestion zone below 60th Street are not exempt from paying the toll -- $15 during the day.
"Whether they're transit workers, teachers, firefighters, cops -- if you're assigned by the government to come to work here ... absolutely, 100 percent, for sure they should not have to pay the fee," Samuelsen said.
Samuelsen spoke just days after he criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul, who oversees the MTA. He placed an ad in the New York Post seeking someone to run against her.
"She's exposing the Democratic Party to harm's way. She's going to drag the Democrats down with her. We believe that Hochul makes New York state vulnerable to a Republican challenger for governor," he said.
The MTA fired back.
"We have increased service on 10 subway lines. We've dramatically overhauled and improved ... bus service in the Bronx. We're working on Queens," said Juliette Michaelson, the MTA's deputy chief of external relations and policy. "We have increased capacity on the Long Island Rail Road by 40 percent and on Metro-North as well."
On the issue of public worker exemptions, Michaelson said, "What would it say about the program if we exempted government employees? That just doesn't seem fair. I'll be paying the toll and so will other government employees."
A request for comment from the governor's office has not been returned.
