New York City congestion pricing is mixed bag for businesses near 60th Street tolling zone

MANHATTAN, New York (WABC) — In the world of New York City congestion pricing, there is a line of demarcation at 60th Street, where things are expected to get very busy.

“It will help the subways, it’s not going to help us,” said Debbie Kavourias, the owner of Columbus Hardware.

For most people who drive, do business or live at or below 60th Street, it’s a mixed bag. There are those who are ready to go full speed ahead with the tolling plan and others who are hoping someone puts on the breaks.

Columbus Hardware, a small mom and pop, sits at 9th Avenue and West 55th Street.

Debbie Kavourias, the owner, has been in the business for decades.

When it comes to congestion pricing, her biggest concern is keeping the shelves full.

“We have deliveries seven or eight times a week that could get cut back, they may say to us, we can no longer come, once a week,” she said.

Trucks entering the zone could be charged between roughly $14 to just over $21 during peak hours, but the team is already feeling the pinch.

When the plan was given the green light the first time, certain vendors added surcharges, which are still in effect.

RELATED | Staten Island lawmakers concerned over congestion pricing’s impact on pollution, traffic

“Per delivery it can go all the way up to $25 per delivery and it doesn’t matter how much is on the delivery, if I order one thing, it’s $25, I order 25 things, it’s $25,” Kavourias said.

That cost would most likely be passed on to customers.

Over at Dock Parking, Romulo Coronel says it will mean less cars a day.

Coronel told Eyewitness News, right now, between 90 and 150 cars pull into the garage on West 58th Street each day with people heading to shops in nearby Columbus Circle or to shows.

To get around the toll, he believes they will simply park a few blocks north and skip him all together.

“With this congestion pricing, it will be a lot less cars, like 15, 30 cars… depends on the day,” Coronel said. “It’s going to be very bad, especially for us also because we work for tips.”

He said that what once was $50 or $75 a day in tips, could drop to less than $30.

Across the park on East 62nd Street, Keren Vasile of Dynasty Dry Cleaners expects a little of both when it comes to deliveries.

“Sometimes we have to go uptown or downtown, so that will be a problem for us because we will have to pay more,” she said.

On the flip side, things may balance out. They are hoping to see more walk-ins.

“Now people are going to stay in the area, and just come here and do the business here,” Vasile said.

It could lead to more foot traffic and a possible influx of cars, and more people taking up parking spaces to avoid the toll and then jumping on mass transit.

Part of City Council Member Gale Brewer’s district straddles the dividing line.

“We don’t want people circling, we don’t want people to park in illegal locations,” she said.

There is another idea floating out there to help ease the stress on some neighborhoods just north of the zone: permit parking for residents.

“You could get a parking sticker, however that parking space is not guaranteed,” Brewer said. “I learned from San Francisco, that people got a sticker for their car. They come home from work and there’s no place to park.”

Time will tell just how things will pan out.

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