UFT, Staten Island BP sue to halt congestion pricing plan

Claim the toll would unfairly burden workers

The United Federation of Teachers, joined by Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, has filed suit to try and stop the MTA’s congestion pricing plan, which the union argues would impose a disproportionate financial burden on public-sector workers and “inflict environmental and economic damage” on outer borough residents and neighborhoods.

The plan, which is expected to take effect this spring, will establish a $15 toll for most drivers entering Manhattan’s Central Business District between 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekends. The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, claims that the federal government and the MTA reached its congestion pricing plan “only after a rushed and hurried process” that violated federal law by failing to prepare an adequate environmental review of the pricing plan.