Congestion pricing advocates sue over paused NYC tolling plan

Several congestion pricing advocates have filed the first legal challenges to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s indefinite pause on the tolling plan, arguing that her 11th-hour decision to halt the program is not only bad for transit riders and the environment, but also against the law.

The Riders Alliance, City Club of NY and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Hochul and other state transportation officials challenging the governor’s “disastrous about-face” on congestion pricing.

The City Club of New York, a nonprofit civic group, filed its own separate suit alleging Hochul’s decision violates state climate laws.

In a statement, Hochul spokesman Gordon Tepper said the litigants should “get in line” behind other groups that have sought “to weaponize the judicial system to score political points.”

Tepper said Hochul “remains focused on what matters: funding transit, reducing congestion, and protecting working New Yorkers.”

Both suits look to force the state to move ahead with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Central Business District Tolling program, which would have charged most vehicles $15 for driving below 60th Street in Manhattan during peak hours. Proponents have said the first-in-the-nation congestion pricing plan would have reduced traffic, improved air quality and generated billions of dollars for transit investment.

After voicing her support for the measure for years, three weeks before the plan was to be implemented on June 30, Hochul unexpectedly pulled the plug on it, citing affordability concerns among New Yorkers.

In the suit filed in state Supreme Court by the Riders Alliance, a transit riders’ advocacy organization, and other groups, the plaintiffs argued congestion pricing “is not a unilateral policy decree bestowed by the state’s Governor, to be granted or taken away on gubernatorial whim.”

Rather, the suit said, the plan was mandated by the state's Traffic Mobility Act, passed in 2019. The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, adopted that same year, also calls for “steep and mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions” that would have been achieved through congestion pricing, according to the suit.

Hochul’s decision also violates the state’s constitution, which guarantees New Yorkers “clean air and water, and a healthful environment,” the suit said.

“Subway and bus riders organized, campaigned for years and finally won congestion pricing. We're not giving up our victory just because Governor Hochul broke the law,” Danny Pearlstein, of the Riders Alliance, said in a statement. “After years of working closely with the governor to start the program, her betrayal of the public transit network we depend on left us no choice but to go to court.”

Speaking at an unrelated news conference in Brooklyn Thursday, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said he was “unaware of the specifics” of the lawsuits and declined to comment.

In a statement, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said the lawsuits provide "a fighting chance at the world-class public transit, reduced traffic, and better air quality we all deserve.”

“If her action is not reversed, hardworking New Yorkers on their way home after a long day will experience increasing service cuts, gridlock, air quality alerts, and inaccessible stations," Lander said.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.