The MTA is looking into implement a congestion toll in Manhattan, and a newly published report says that it will be drivers for Lyft, Uber, and other rideshare services that will be hit the hardest from these new tolling prices.  

The MTA’s Central Business District Tolling Program could charge drivers anywhere from $9 to $23 daily for entering Manhattan below 60th Street – something Uber driver Pedro Acosta says he does regularly.  

“The inflation is too much, including gasoline… that means our lives have been affected,” said Acosta, who says he enters and exits Manhattan below 60th Street up to 12 times a day for drop-offs and pick-ups. 

The report, published by The Black Institute, says the program would be felt most by minority drivers such as Acosta. Researcher Jacob Scupp who was behind the report says that the rideshare driver industry in New York City is over 90% people of color and immigrants.  

“It was very clear to us that the MTA did not do its due diligence when it came to the impact on communities of color,” said Scupp.  

The plan aims to reduce traffic to help speed up buses, reduce pollution, and raise around $15 billion for mass transit projects. Scupp says rideshare drivers already have to pay a $2.75 fee for trips below 96th Street in Manhattan, and that these drivers already have other fees and expenses they need to account for, making this plan unfair for them.  

The MTA says that the Federal Highway Administration would need to approve the plan before it makes its way to the MTA’s Traffic Mobility Review Board for final pricing.