Kamillah Hanks calls on MTA to fix flawed congestion pricing disability exemption plan
- Updated: Jan. 17, 2025, 7:38 p.m.
- |Published: Jan. 17, 2025, 7:36 p.m.
City Councilmember Kamillah Hanks (D-North Shore) joined by a dozen advocates at the Staten Island Center for Independent Living, called on the MTA to immediately resolve issues with its flawed Disability Exemption Program. (Staten Island Advance/ Priya Shahi)Priya Shahi
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — City Councilmember Kamillah Hanks (D-North Shore) joined advocates at the Staten Island Center for Independent Living on Friday to spotlight what she calls systemic failures of the MTA’s Individual Disability Exemption Plan (IDEP).
The plan is designed to exempt qualifying vehicles transporting people with disabilities, including those operated by caregivers, from the new congestion pricing tolls, which took effect on Sunday, Jan. 5.
But according to many, the application process itself is becoming a barrier, while others have said they are getting denied.
Michael Ring, vice president of the Disabled In Action of Metropolitan New York, said that, even with his master’s degree, he had trouble figuring out how to get through an IDEP [...]