MTA Announces That Hampton Jitney Will Be Exempt From Congestion Pricing

There was good news for Hampton Jitney and its riders earlier this week: The Metropolitan Transit Authority announced on Monday that it would expand exemptions for its new congestion pricing system, expected to take effect in June, to include private bus operators like the Jitney. The MTA board still has to vote on the final recommendations for the toll program before it is official.

The original congestion pricing proposal only exempted buses that were owned or operated by government or transit agencies, like the MTA.

Hampton Jitney alerted its customers earlier this month that, if the exemption was not granted, it would likely be forced to raise fares, because the pricing program would have forced the bus company to pay significantly more in tolls when it enters the city’s central business district.

Hampton Jitney President Geoffrey Lynch said earlier last month that he had hoped the MTA would extend the exemption, because the company and the service its provides is “part of the solution” to the traffic congestion issue in Manhattan.

Without the exemption, Hampton Jitney was facing the prospect of having to add hundreds of thousands of dollars to its annual toll expense, Lynch said, which could have doubled the cost of what it spends on tolls. Last year, Jitney spent a half million dollars on E-Z Pass tolls, according to Lynch.

Lynch said on Tuesday that the bus company was happy to hear the news.

“We are extremely pleased to hear that Hampton Jitney, along with other commuter operations in and out of Manhattan, have been included in the Central Business District’s Congestion Toll Program Exemption List,” he said. “We are grateful to all of our passengers who supported our exemption request, and pleased to see that the MTA recognized that commuter operations like Hampton Jitney will help the congestion mitigation the toll program is trying to accomplish.”