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NYC AMBULANCE WORKERS SOUND SIRENS OVER $15 CONGESTION TOLL'S...

Metro

exclusive


NYC AMBULANCE WORKERS SOUND SIRENS OVER $15 CONGESTION TOLL: ‘IT’S A SLAP IN THE
FACE’

By Carl Campanile

Published Dec. 24, 2023, 12:14 p.m. ET

The city’s life savers — paramedics and EMTs — are in full panic mode over a
controversial plan that will force them to pay a $15 congestion toll just to
drive to their jobs in Manhattan.

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An emergency worker union president is warning the congestion pricing plan, set
to take effect as soon as May, will make hiring EMS workers in the city more
difficult and ultimately increase response times in some of the Big Apple’s
busiest neighborhoods.

More than 400 ambulance workers are assigned to three FDNY Emergency Service
stations south of 60th Street in the congestion pricing district, said Oren
Barzilay, president of the Local 2507 union representing paramedics, emergency
medical technicians and fire inspectors.

Because of low pay and high housing costs in and around New York City, many EMS
employees commute from their homes throughout lower-cost exurbs of Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Long Island and the northern New York suburbs — instead of taking
less convenient mass transit, he said.

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Meanwhile, the unions representing EMS workers are among the few that haven’t
secured a new labor contract with Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and EMTs and
paramedics are some of the lowest paid among the city’s uniformed forces.

4
Many of New York’s emergency services workers commute to the city from their
homes in lower-cost suburbs in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Upstate New York.
Christopher Sadowski

Currently, salaries for EMTs range from $39,386 to $59,534 after five years,
while the salaries for medics start at $53,891 and max out at $75,872 after five
years. 

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Now, they’ll have to pay about $4,000 extra per year to drive to their jobs in
the new Manhattan toll district, Barzilay said.


MORE ON: CONGESTION PRICING


 * CUOMO'S DISAPPOINTING RECORD AND MORE: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR — DEC. 24, 2023


 * NY DEMS' GERRYMANDERING TRADITION: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR — DEC. 22, 2023


 * MTA AND NJ STILL TALKING SETTLEMENT TERMS IN CONGESTION PRICING LAWSUIT WITH
   TOLLS SLATED TO START IN MAY


 * MTA CITY TRANSIT CHIEF HITS CUOMO FOR NYC CONGESTION PRICING FLIP-FLOP: 'HE
   WAS RIGHT FOUR YEARS AGO'

“It’s an insult — a slap in the face,” he fumed.

“I have members who live 100 miles away in places where housing and cost of
living is cheaper. They can’t afford to live in the city,” Barzilay said. 

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“Our EMS workers are the city’s life savers. They put their hands on people to
save their lives. We bring the emergency room to New Yorkers’ homes. We bring
people back from the dead every day,” Borzilay said.

4
Oren Barzilay, president of the Local 2507 emergency worker union, warned the
$15 congestion toll will squeeze first responders, who are among the city’s
lowest-paid uniformed forces. Robert Mecea

“This is what my members get in return — a $15 toll! These aren’t just other
drivers coming into the city. They are essential workers.”

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He warned city taxpayers will end up suffering most.

“A $15 toll is going to cause a hiring problem of EMS workers for the city. I
don’t think response times are going to be good in these neighborhoods in the
congestion pricing zone,” Barzilay said. 

“People are having to pay to go to work. They’re supposed to get paid to go to
work.”

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Three FDNY EMS ambulance stations are located in the congestion zone — at
Bellevue hospital, on the Lower East Side and Chelsea. They are among the
busiest stations in the city, which cover the Times Square business district and
the downtown financial district.

4
The tolling plan is expected to generate $1 billion annually. Christopher
Sadowski

Mayor Eric Adams has also said there should be some exemptions for people with
medical appointments and city vehicles.

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The toll program introduced by a state-commissioned task force last month
recommended that the MTA charge drivers $15 once per day if they drive into
Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak hours.

Transit officials said they’ve held the line on granting exemptions to the $15
congestion toll for people who reside outside the zone — at least thus far —
because waiving the fee for one group of drivers will trigger a lobbying blitz
from others wanting a break.

Exclusions will force the MTA to raise the congestion toll higher than $15 to
make up for the loss of revenue from exemptions, officials said.

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The pricing plan is expected to generate $1 billion annually to help the MTA
finance up to $15 billion in repairs, improvements and expansion projects across
its network of subways, railroads and buses.

4
Barzilay said the increased financial burden on the city’s emergency personnel
will make it harder for New York to hire EMS workers, which will increase
response times. Robert Mecea

“It does all hang together, if you change one piece of it, it affects other
things,” Carl Weisbrod, who headed the MTA’s Traffic Mobility Review Board,
which recommended the $15 congestion toll, warned last month.

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Gov. Kathy Hochul has defended the plan.

What do you think? Post a comment.

But ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who muscled the state’s controversial congestion
pricing law through the legislature in 2019, is now urging officials to put the
brakes on the program.

The MTA had no immediate comment.


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Filed under ambulances ,  andrew cuomo ,  congestion pricing ,  ems ,  emts , 
fdny ,  kathy hochul ,  mta ,  paramedics ,  12/24/23
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