Gov. Hochul to relaunch congestion pricing with $9 base toll, sources say
Posted on 11/13/2024
Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to relaunch the MTA’s congestion pricing program with a $9 base toll for passenger cars — marking a 40% reduction from the price previously approved by the MTA — according to four sources briefed on the governor’s plan.
The sources, who were not authorized to speak on the matter on Wednesday, said Hochul plans to eventually increase the base toll. Hochul's office confirmed she will make an announcement regarding mass transit funding on Thursday.
Sources who spoke to Gothamist named competing start dates for the new toll program. One source with direct knowledge of Hochul’s plan, who was also not authorized to speak on the topic, said the MTA board plans to approve the new tolls during its next meeting on Nov. 20 — and that the governor plans to launch the program Dec. 29. Another source briefed on the topic said they were told the tolls would launch in the first week of 2025.
The governor’s move comes just over a week after the election, and more than five months after she abruptly paused congestion pricing weeks before it was set to launch. New York state lawmakers first approved the program in 2019, with the goal of charging drivers a fee for entering Manhattan south of 60th Street. The MTA previously planned to charge a $15 base toll starting June 30. The revenue from the program is legally required to fund $15 billion worth of essential repairs to the MTA’s transit systems.
In pausing the program, Hochul claimed the tolls would be too costly for drivers who were already wrestling with inflation. Two sources said the governor was asked by congressional Democratic leaders to hold off on launching the tolls until after the election in hopes of winning competitive House races in the city’s suburbs.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to kill congestion pricing once he takes office, but transit advocates say Trump will have a harder time dismantling the tolls if they launch by the time he takes office. Local Republicans have vowed to challenge the program.
The lower toll price would save a motorist who drives into Manhattan five days a week $1,500 over the course of a year compared to the prior plan. But Hochul is expected to face questions as to whether the lower toll will discourage motorists from entering the city to reduce congestion in the same way a $15 toll would have, which was a key goal of congestion pricing.
"Gov. Hochul paused congestion pricing because a daily $15 toll was too much for hard-working New Yorkers in this economic climate," Hochul spokesperson Avi Small wrote in a statement on Wednesday. "Tomorrow, the governor will announce the path forward to fund mass transit, unclog our streets and improve public health by reducing air pollution."
Multiple sources also said Hochul plans to announce a new slate of revenue streams to fill a gap of at least $33 billion in the MTA’s five-year construction plan that begins next year. The sources were not briefed on where that revenue would come from — but transit advocates have previously pitched state tax hikes as a way to pay for the plan.
Hochul’s announcement will come a day before her legal team is mandated to provide its latest response to a pair of lawsuits filed by advocates that aim to force the MTA to move forward with the tolls.
“They should be able to stand this up relatively swiftly,” said Justin Balik, a state program director with the environmental group Evergreen Action, which filed an amicus brief supporting congestion pricing in one of the lawsuits. “The governor's team has thought about this carefully. The MTA has thought about this carefully. All the environmental work under NEPA has really been done already. We were ready to go as folks know before the pause.”
The news of the program's relaunch is slated to set up a fight between Hochul and local Republicans, who campaigned against the tolls ahead of this month’s election.
On Wednesday, five Republican Congress members from New York sent a letter to Trump asking him to permanently halt congestion pricing in Manhattan by rescinding Federal Highway Administration approval.
The letter was signed by Reps. Michael Lawler of the Hudson Valley, Nicole Malliotakis of Staten Island and Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota and Anthony D’Esposito of Long Island.
“Congestion pricing, the latest in a long string of tyrannical taxes, has been pressed forward through consistent opposition about the burden on New York families and workers,” they wrote.
The sources, who were not authorized to speak on the matter on Wednesday, said Hochul plans to eventually increase the base toll. Hochul's office confirmed she will make an announcement regarding mass transit funding on Thursday.
Sources who spoke to Gothamist named competing start dates for the new toll program. One source with direct knowledge of Hochul’s plan, who was also not authorized to speak on the topic, said the MTA board plans to approve the new tolls during its next meeting on Nov. 20 — and that the governor plans to launch the program Dec. 29. Another source briefed on the topic said they were told the tolls would launch in the first week of 2025.
The governor’s move comes just over a week after the election, and more than five months after she abruptly paused congestion pricing weeks before it was set to launch. New York state lawmakers first approved the program in 2019, with the goal of charging drivers a fee for entering Manhattan south of 60th Street. The MTA previously planned to charge a $15 base toll starting June 30. The revenue from the program is legally required to fund $15 billion worth of essential repairs to the MTA’s transit systems.
In pausing the program, Hochul claimed the tolls would be too costly for drivers who were already wrestling with inflation. Two sources said the governor was asked by congressional Democratic leaders to hold off on launching the tolls until after the election in hopes of winning competitive House races in the city’s suburbs.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to kill congestion pricing once he takes office, but transit advocates say Trump will have a harder time dismantling the tolls if they launch by the time he takes office. Local Republicans have vowed to challenge the program.
The lower toll price would save a motorist who drives into Manhattan five days a week $1,500 over the course of a year compared to the prior plan. But Hochul is expected to face questions as to whether the lower toll will discourage motorists from entering the city to reduce congestion in the same way a $15 toll would have, which was a key goal of congestion pricing.
"Gov. Hochul paused congestion pricing because a daily $15 toll was too much for hard-working New Yorkers in this economic climate," Hochul spokesperson Avi Small wrote in a statement on Wednesday. "Tomorrow, the governor will announce the path forward to fund mass transit, unclog our streets and improve public health by reducing air pollution."
Multiple sources also said Hochul plans to announce a new slate of revenue streams to fill a gap of at least $33 billion in the MTA’s five-year construction plan that begins next year. The sources were not briefed on where that revenue would come from — but transit advocates have previously pitched state tax hikes as a way to pay for the plan.
Hochul’s announcement will come a day before her legal team is mandated to provide its latest response to a pair of lawsuits filed by advocates that aim to force the MTA to move forward with the tolls.
“They should be able to stand this up relatively swiftly,” said Justin Balik, a state program director with the environmental group Evergreen Action, which filed an amicus brief supporting congestion pricing in one of the lawsuits. “The governor's team has thought about this carefully. The MTA has thought about this carefully. All the environmental work under NEPA has really been done already. We were ready to go as folks know before the pause.”
The news of the program's relaunch is slated to set up a fight between Hochul and local Republicans, who campaigned against the tolls ahead of this month’s election.
On Wednesday, five Republican Congress members from New York sent a letter to Trump asking him to permanently halt congestion pricing in Manhattan by rescinding Federal Highway Administration approval.
The letter was signed by Reps. Michael Lawler of the Hudson Valley, Nicole Malliotakis of Staten Island and Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota and Anthony D’Esposito of Long Island.
“Congestion pricing, the latest in a long string of tyrannical taxes, has been pressed forward through consistent opposition about the burden on New York families and workers,” they wrote.
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