Transit advocates are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to fund congestion pricing before the inauguration of Donald Trump, who has promised to terminate the program during his first week in office. During a press conference on Wednesday, Hochul said she could only provide updates on MTA funding later this year and did not address the fate of congestion pricing, while still acknowledging the limited time before Trump takes office.
Hochul has roughly 75 days to advance any changes to the price of the toll or get any new exemptions or discounts approved by the Federal Highway Administration, which approved the fees in June 2023, as reported by Streetsblog.
During his last 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.
“We always knew this election would be a toss-up,” Hochul said during a press conference Wednesday. “This is a scenario we planned for starting last summer, and before the end of the year, we will have our announcements and a plan and a funding plan and will also be talking about the capital projects for the next five years.”
Since Hochul indefinitely paused the congestion pricing program in June, just weeks before it was slated to begin, the MTA has been left with a $15 billion hole in its budget, and numerous transit projects have ground to a halt.
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.
“There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that congestion pricing affected who did well and who did poorly on Tuesday night. I don’t think congestion pricing is the difference between Mondaire Jones losing to Republican Mike Lawler and Josh Riley winning in the Hudson Valley,” Evan Roth Smith, a New York-based political strategist, told Streetsblog.
Smith continued: “But if she suspended congestion pricing to benefit Democrats at the ballot box in the general election, then that part has been accomplished, so now’s the time to implement it.”
Sara Lind, co-executive director of Open Plans, released a statement calling on Hochul to reinstate congestion pricing immediately.
“Our City, State, and federal officials can act now to bolster commitments to livability and sustainability. Most crucially, Gov. Hochul must begin congestion pricing immediately. Trump has stated that he will scrap the plan; implementing it now is our only chance to save this popular program that will alleviate gridlock, fund our transit system, and create tens of thousands of jobs across New York State. We cannot delay a single day.”
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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