With New York City’s congestion pricing underway, some of the plan’s biggest detractors are doubling down on a pocketbook argument: If logistics companies have to pay more to deliver everything from food and drinks to hospital equipment, then consumers will also suffer.
It is unclear how the price of goods will be affected by the plan, which is expected to reduce traffic, improve air quality and fund critical improvements to public transportation.
But a consortium of food distributors and truck companies are convinced that the tolls will unfairly burden them, and their clients.
The tolling plan, which will charge most motorists up to $9 a day to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, has a higher fee structure for delivery vehicles. The fee falls to $2.25 in off-peak hours. But trucks entering the zone at busy times will pay up to $21.60, based on size and time of entry, with no cap on the number of tolls per day.
That could add up quickly for thousands of trucks entering the zone several times a day, said Zach Miller, the vice president of government affairs for the Trucking Association of New York, a statewide trade group. Trucks deliver nearly 90 percent of all goods within the five boroughs.
“If you’re circling 59th Street three times to find a place to park, under this plan, you’re going to get tolled every time,” Mr. Miller said, referring to the northern boundary of the tolling zone, where cameras and E-ZPass readers record every vehicle entering the district.
Some trucking companies have already told their customers to expect rate increases because of congestion pricing.
Joe Fitzpatrick, the president of Lightning Express, a light-fixture delivery service that travels frequently through Manhattan, said he will raise his prices by 2 percent, because he estimates that his fleet of eight box trucks and a few other vehicles could spend roughly $20,000 on congestion tolls this year.
Those fees could get passed on to consumers, said Margaret Magnarelli, the vice president of marketing at Baldor Specialty Foods, a food distribution company in the Bronx with thousands of clients in the city, including bars, restaurants and grocery stores.
“Restaurants and retailers are struggling to maintain staff as it is,” she said, and the tolls could spur many to raise their prices as they adjust to rising delivery costs. Her company and a group of other food businesses are lobbying Gov. Kathy Hochul to carve out a tolling exemption for truck drivers.
Tom Wright, the president of the nonprofit Regional Plan Association, said that such arguments play down the positive effects of congestion pricing, which could ultimately save the trucking industry money.
A 2018 study by the Partnership for New York City, a business group, found that the annual cost of delays in commuting and work-related travel in the New York City area was $9.2 billion.
For the trucking industry, he said, the time savings from reduced congestion “vastly outweighs the cost.”
