BOSTON, Mass. – Boston is considering congestion fees similar to New York City. Mayor Michelle Wu said there is no plan in place, but anything is on the table when it comes to lowering traffic and raising the quality of life.
“People are dealing with it,” Darius Ross said. “They’re accepting it, but they don’t like it.”
Ross lives in New York City and said, in his opinion, congestion pricing isn’t going well – meanwhile Boston is considering the fee for drivers.
“There’s no there’s not a specific plan on the table,” Mayor Wu said. “It’s really just learning and understanding what the real before and after has been for New York.”
Congestion pricing is a toll for drivers entering high-traffic areas during peak traffic times.
New York City launched a once-a-day $9 fee for cars who enter lower Manhattan in 2025. Now Boston is thinking about how something similar would work in Massachusetts.
Mayor Wu said a delegation of city and state workers will be heading to Manhattan to learn from their system.
“They have a lot that they wanted to share with us,” Wu said, “so I’m sending our team to go hear it directly.”
“The problem with it is the average consumer can’t afford it,” Ross said.
Ross suggested congestion pricing adds to the high cost of living, and it’s fueling the fire of pricing New Yorkers out.
Governor Maura Healey told Spectrum News the timing isn’t right.
“Not in the moment that we’re in,” Healey said. “I’m focused on affordability every single day. How do we drive down costs in housing and health care?”
Wu said Boston will continue to seek ways to reduce traffic, lower emissions, and raise funds for the city.
“Everything should be on the table,” Wu said, “when it comes to finding ways to fix traffic and have the quality of life that we all deserve.”
But when it comes to congestion pricing, from a New Yorker:
“Don’t do it,” Ross said. “Please find another tax revenue, tax source, something another – find another way because people are going to get priced out. I mean, what’s happening now is it’s pricing people out of the city. I’m in the real estate business. So I can tell them it’s pricing people out of the city.”
