WNYC reported that Weprin held a press conference on the Manhattan side of the Queensboro Bridge and stated that people living in his Assembly district do not have adequate transit services. Weprin charged that the congestion pricing plan would be tantamount to a tax on his constituents who do not have access to buses and subways, according to WNYC.

By contrast, the Riders Alliance has come out strongly in favor of the plan. Cuomo is proposing reducing traffic congestion in Manhattan by charging motorists a fee to drive into Manhattan below 60th Street. The money generated by the tolls, estimated by the Riders Alliance to be $1 billion a year, would go toward fixing the subways and buses. 

The controversial plan was part of a series of recommendations from Cuomo’s Fix NYC group, a panel of experts who the governor tasked with coming up with solutions to the city’s transit woes. 

Riders Alliance campaign manager Rebecca Bailin said the congestion pricing proposal is worth taking seriously. 

“The congestion pricing plan outlined by the Fix NYC panel is a progressive way to fund urgent repairs to the transit system so that working people can get to their jobs, pick up their kids and keep their medical appointments. Our elected officials represent millions of transit riders, and they’d better start acting like they care about our needs,” Bailin said in a statement. 

Led by the Riders Alliance, angry bus and subway riders crashed Weprin’s press conference to demand that the lawmaker get on board with the congestion pricing proposal. 

“Congestion pricing is the first step in what must be a comprehensive approach to create a faster, safer, more reliable and more accessible transportation system for everyone. With people stalled in traffic and on subways, traveling over infrastructure that is literally crumbling, there is no time to wait,” stated Alexis Saba, a Riders Alliance member from Brooklyn. 

The Riders Alliance charged that subway system delays have more than tripled in the past five years. The rate of on-time performance is less than 65 percent, according to the Riders Alliance which pointed to data from MTA.

In addition, the city’s buses have become increasingly slow and unreliable, according to the transit advocacy group, which noted that traffic congestion on city streets is a leading cause of slow bus service.

The Riders Alliance also hinted that motorists who would be forced to pay a congestion pricing toll could afford well it. 

The organization’s leaders cited data from a study conducted by the nonprofit organization Community Service Society, which found that only four percent of outer-borough residents drive into Manhattan on an average weekday. Of the motorists who are driving into Manhattan, more than 50 percent are high-income earners, according to the study. 

Nick Sifuentes, executive director of Tri-State Transportation Campaign, said something has to be done to ease the burden on bus and subway riders. 

“Fortunately, there are far more visionary leaders in state and local government who recognize that the ongoing subway meltdown and endless Manhattan gridlock are existential threats to our city and that millions of New Yorkers demand a solution. The status quo is not an option, and politicians who fail to fix mass transit should be held accountable by their constituents at the ballot box,” Sifuentes said in a statement.

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