Upper Manhattan nabes are already devolving into glorified parking lots only days after the MTA and Gov. Hochul flipped the switch on congestion pricing — with bridge-and-tunnel commuters increasingly ditching their vehicles uptown to skirt the $9 toll, outraged residents told The Post
Across Washington Heights, locals bemoaned that their already-scarce curbside parking spaces have further vanished in recent days, with many now burning hours trying to track down a precious spot.
“’Good luck to everyone,’ that’s what I say,” nurse Thomas Hurt, 36, told The Post. “Now [these commuters] are right here along with us, trying to fight it out.”
After coming home from his shift at a Montefiore hospital in the Bronx Wednesday, Hurt circled for two hours searching for a spot — and saw at least 20 New Jersey-plated cars hogging spaces between West 174th and West 181st streets.
Over the past year, residents in the neighborhoods outside the 60th Street congestion zone have repeatedly warned that their communities would be plagued with hellish gridlock and increased pollution from meandering motorists.
“It’s gotten worse in the past week. A lot of people from Jersey, they take the bridge, park here, and take the subways down,” said Cristian Romarion, 48, a project manager, who double-parked his Jeep Wrangler while waiting for a spot to open up.
“People fight for parking here . . . like, physically fight for parking. It’s crazy,” he continued, adding that he’s witnessed scraps “almost every day” since congestion pricing took effect.
Just remember that the plan wasn’t to raise revenue or reduce congestion in Manhattan but to get people to give up their cars, and it all makes sense.