{"id":422894,"date":"2025-12-03T23:57:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T23:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/422894\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T23:57:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T23:57:11","slug":"nyc-businesses-forcing-customers-to-pay-for-congestion-toll-even-if-they-live-outside-relief-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/422894\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC businesses forcing customers to pay for congestion toll — even if they live outside ‘relief’ zone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congestion-flation is hitting the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

The MTA\u2019s controversial congestion pricing program<\/a> has businesses passing on their toll costs to customers \u2014 even outside of the so-called \u201crelief zone\u201d in downtown Manhattan, industry leaders said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

And how much tolls have increased prices in the city can be tough to pin down, experts said, because the added burden of congestion tolls don\u2019t always appear as a surcharge on a bill.<\/p>\n

Industry leaders said that the MTA congestion pricing program has businesses passing their toll costs to customers. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

Delivery trucks face tolls as high as $21.60 for each trip into the congestion zone below 60th Street \u2014 but small businesses like Lightning Express say all of their clients are paying the extra costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just easier to say you know what, if it\u2019s in Manhattan, you get charged with congestion pricing,\u201d said owner Joe Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo say that congestion pricing is working,\u201d he added. \u201cI think that\u2019s a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zach Miller, vice president of government affairs for the Trucking Association of New York, told The Post said he\u2019s heard similar issues of service providers applying that congestion fee to every invoice \u2014 not just in the busy section of the borough.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Townhouse Diner owner Stavros Dakis said he\u2019s ready \u201cto get the hell out of here\u201d even as he\u2019s been in business for 55 years. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

\u201cThe administrative burden is really the silent killer,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Other companies are simply absorbing the extra fee and administrative cost even as the extra baggage is \u201cabsolutely cutting into the bottom line,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Some larger freight truck drivers might be hit with numerous tolls<\/a> in the span of minutes if they are near the congestion zone border and are looking for a spot to offload their goods, according to Miller.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have heard that essentially the service providers just add in the congestion charge to every service fee they charge,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m paying about $100 a day in fees for deliveries because of congestion pricing,\u201d Dakis said. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not our members but from the best I can tell is they are doing it for the administrative burden we are now put under. So rather than pay a staff member to spend hours going through the toll charges, the cleanest way for them to monitor this is to add it to every service charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fitzpatrick, of Lightning Express, said one of his eight trucks could be in and out of the zone four times in just a couple of hours.<\/p>\n

An MTA spokesperson dismissed the concerns and claimed business leaders back congestion pricing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrucks are spending less time in traffic and that means savings on fuel and labor costs that can be passed on to customers \u2013 no wonder business leaders support congestion pricing,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

An MTA spokesperson dismissed concerns and claimed business leaders back congestion pricing. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

But shops inside the zone say the congestion toll has been hurting their bottom lines over the past year \u2013 and one noted he\u2019s even been forced to hike prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had to raise our prices, and the customers don\u2019t like it. They argue with us \u2013 why are these cookies, which used to be $2.50, now $3.00?\u201d said bodega worker Suhel Ahmed, of\u00a0705 Quick Stop.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>But we have to raise the prices to cover the delivery fees from the congestion pricing. The customers don\u2019t like it but there\u2019s nothing we can do about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Townhouse Diner owner Stavros Dakis said he\u2019s ready \u201cto get the hell out of here\u201d even as he\u2019s been in business for 55 years.<\/p>\n

Ross said he\u2019s paying about $1,000 each month to the deliveries he\u2019s handling. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m paying about $100 a day in fees for deliveries because of congestion pricing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re losing business as it is, especially on Mondays and Fridays when a lot of people don\u2019t come to the office to work. We have to raise the prices, and suddenly people stop buying two coffees every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardware store owner Steve Ross said he\u2019s paying about $1,000 each month to the deliveries he\u2019s handling \u2013 and as a result is slapping an extra $15 fee \u201cfor deliveries, whether inside or outside the zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some larger freight truck drivers might be hit with numerous tolls in the span of minutes if they are near the congestion zone border. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I never used to charge. That was a big advantage for me, not to charge for deliveries, because a lot of other guys always charged,\u201d said the owner of The Lumber Boys near Herald Square.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I can\u2019t do that anymore. I\u2019m covering my costs but it\u2019s not a good optic, it\u2019s really not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Bank, of Alicart Restaurant Group, which runs several restaurants, said not everything can be passed onto the consumer though.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, people shop and buy things a certain way \u2026 And it\u2019s not that everything\u2019s just a pass-through. It doesn\u2019t work that way in the small business world,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Congestion-flation is hitting the Big Apple. The MTA\u2019s controversial congestion pricing program has businesses passing on their toll…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":422895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,13845,5371,5248,9904,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,9207,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-422894","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-congestion-pricing","10":"tag-kathy-hochul","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-mta","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-small-business","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-us-news","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115658348678212108","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}