New NYC congestion pricing plan to be ready by year's end, Governor Hochul says

Gov. Kathy Hochul says that by year’s end, she will announce a replacement plan for charging higher tolls for vehicles driving into Manhattan.

The governor had stunned transportation and environmental advocates in June when she suspended a congestion pricing plan that would have charged drivers $15 for driving into Manhattan south of 60th Street — just weeks before it was set to begin.

In an interview at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Hochul said her administration would unveil a new proposal by the time the State Legislature reconvenes in Albany in January.

She didn’t give any more details, but reiterated her view that $15 was too much for ordinary New Yorkers. Further, she mentioned that London gradually increased its congestion pricing tolls over time rather than a large hike in one swoop.

"We will be announcing this by the end of the year because the legislature has to act on it," the governor said in a one-on-one interview with Politico. "It’s likely it will be announced by the end of the year, early next year as we get the legislature on board."

A Hochul aide pointed out the governor has been saying, for weeks, she intends to present a plan by the time the 2025 state legislative session begins.

When Hochul abruptly suspended the pricing plan, many said it was because Democrats were afraid the issue would hurt their candidates in congressional swing districts on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley.

Hochul, in the interview, said control of the House of Representatives is crucial to New York’s needs, especially infrastructure. Money from the tolls is supposed to be used to help fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and repairs to the downstate mass transit system.

But she contended her decision was not about campaigns.

"It’s not related to elections," Hochul said. "We are studying other options."

A spokesman for Ed Cox, chairman of the New York State Republican Committee, called it a political ploy.

"We said back in June this was an election-year gimmick, but [Hochul] was too weak to keep up the act in the face of fierce opposition from radicals in her own party," said David Laska, a Cox spokesman. He added a toll hike plan "should be scrapped indefinitely."

Reached for further comment Wednesday, Hochul spokesman John Lindsay emailed, saying: "Governor Hochul’s position has not changed and congestion pricing continues to be paused indefinitely. Like the majority of New Yorkers, Governor Hochul believes a $15 daily toll is just too much for working people trying to get by in today’s economy. That’s why, as the governor has repeatedly said in public, she is exploring multiple options with legislative leaders to fund transit as the pause continues."

Hochul had long been an advocate of increasing tolls in Manhattan as a way of reducing gridlock and pollution, generating money for the MTA and encouraging use of mass transit.

A congestion pricing plan was five years in the making – starting under previous Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo – and the state spent millions of dollars studying, defending and installing a new toll system.

But Hochul hit the brakes on the plan, just weeks before it was set to begin. She blamed the high toll rate ($15) and said New York still hadn’t fully recovered from a COVID-19-inflicted economic downturn.

"Circumstances have changed and we must respond to the facts on the ground — not from the rhetoric from five years ago," Hochul said in June.

Just before lawmakers adjourned the 2024 state legislative session in June, Hochul proposed an alternate plan would include a $1 billion bond proposition and a hike in the payroll tax paid by New York City employers. But the Democrat-led Legislature rejected it.

The MTA has said the "pause" puts a $16.5 billion hole in its capital budget and puts a hold on more than two dozen station accessibility-improvement projects, among other things.

In July, staunch supporters of congestion pricing filed two lawsuits trying to force the state to implement the toll plan essentially immediately.

The Riders Alliance, City Club of NY and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance filed claims, contending the "pause" violated the 2019 Traffic Mobility Act, which was approved by the State Legislature and included the congestion pricing plan.

Regarding Hochul’s statement about a new plan by January, Danny Pearlstein, of the Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy group, again stressed the view the state needs to move forward with the plan now.

"Congestion pricing is ready to start today," Pearlstein said in an email. "The law requires it. Delaying it squanders time, money and our public health. Giving public officials special privileges undermines trust in government that we sorely need to modernize our transit infrastructure."

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy