Gov. Kathy Hochul is reportedly exploring ways to revive congestion pricing before President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to eliminate the plan, takes office. As first reported by Politico, the governor’s office has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation about potentially lowering the proposed toll from $15 to $9 and whether this change would require another lengthy environmental review process.
Hochul has roughly 70 days to advance any changes to the toll prices or get any new exemptions or discounts approved by the Federal Highway Administration, which approved the fees in June 2023, as reported by Streetsblog.
Since the governor indefinitely paused the program in June, just weeks before it was slated to begin, the MTA has faced a $15 billion budget shortfall, causing numerous transit projects to come to a halt.
At a press conference last week, Hochul gave no hint at restarting the congestion pricing program before Trump takes office. She stated that MTA funding updates would be announced later this year but did not address the future of congestion pricing, despite acknowledging the limited time before the new administration begins.
If congestion pricing resumes before Trump’s inauguration on January 20, he could attempt to revoke federal approval or threaten to withhold funding for the program. However, he would lack the power to eliminate it outright, and his administration would likely need to go to federal court to overturn it, according to the New York Times.
During his first term, Trump’s Department of Transportation delayed the environmental review for congestion pricing and provided less than $80 million in grants to the MTA compared to roughly $4 billion from the Biden administration, according to NY1.
Lowering the toll to $9 is significant, as the MTA’s approval of the prices from the Biden administration follows years of analysis of tolls ranging from $9 to $23 for passenger vehicles. By staying within this range, it appears that Hochul is aiming to receive quick approval while President Biden is still in office.
Transit advocates had urged the governor to resume the program following Trump’s election win. The President-elect has been outspoken against the program, previously vowing to terminate it during his first week in office.
“Sharks are circling New York’s public transit network and proposing absurd schemes destined to fail,” Danny Pearlstein, spokesperson for Riders Alliance, which has launched an ad campaign urging the governor to resume the program, said. “Gov. Kathy Hochul must prove she can resist the insanity and take care of the basic infrastructure millions of New Yorkers depend on each day.”
Congesting pricing would have charged drivers $15 for entering Manhattan south of 60th Street, a fee established based on a 2019 law that required the program to generate enough money to support $15 billion of debt.
Hochul cited her decision to abruptly delay the program on the $15 toll, which she said was too high, claiming that “circumstances have changed” due to the city’s current economic situation.
However, sources told Politico that a major factor in the governor’s decision was fear that the program could hurt Democrats in this week’s House races.
Despite this decision, experts say the program did little to influence the outcome of the elections, even though Democrats won three Republican-held congressional seats, according to Streetsblog.
In July, it was reported that state lawmakers were considering proposing a lower congestion pricing toll to convince Hochul to resume the program. Any modification to the program would require the governor to call a special legislative session to amend the 2019 law approving the program and would restart a review process that has already taken over five years.
Later that month, a coalition of local advocacy groups, lawyers, and elected officials led by NYC Comptroller Brad Lander filed two lawsuits against Hochul, claiming she lacked the legal authority to pause the tolling program. In September, a New York Supreme Court judge denied a motion by Hochul’s lawyers to dismiss the lawsuits.
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