The decades-long effort to institute congestion tolls in Manhattan's Central Business District has nearly succeeded several times before: In the 1970s, when Mayor John Lindsay's push to get a toll on car trips into Manhattan fell prey to New York's representatives in Congress; and in 2007 and 2008, Democrats in the state Assembly thwarted a plan backed by the Republican-controlled Senate and then-Mayor Bloomberg.
Add obviously this year, when Gov. Hochul tossed off years of planning and preparation — and the MTA's budget — with a disastrous 11th-hour decision to call off congestion pricing's scheduled June 30 launch date.
In "saying 'no' to congestion pricing" (her words), Hochul touted the MTA's fiscal situation under her leadership — claiming that "no other governor" had committed as much money to the transit agency as she had. That was true, until Hochul reneged on her years of pro-toll statements and "indefinitely paused" the long-awaited tolls.
In the days and weeks after her announcement, Hochul parroted anti-congestion pricing talking points. She claimed she had "stood up on behalf of hard working families" who drive into Manhattan — while making no mention of the many more who commute there by train and bus. She insisted a $15 toll was "too much" for drivers while ignoring that Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North commuters pay just as much in fares. After a summer defending her bizarre decision making, Hochul revived the toll In November at a lower base of $9.
Streetsblog was there every step of the way:
We were there in March when the MTA board approved the Traffic Mobility Review Board's recommended $15 peak toll. We were there the day of Hochul's fateful June 5 announcement to remind the media of the governor's own words touting the benefits of congestion pricing and dismissing its critics. We were there in the days following to figure out the legality of Hochul's betrayal, highlight the political pitfalls of her decision, point out the toll's forecasted benefits and call out the interest groups that pushed for the "pause."
Throughout 2024, we provided expert commentary on the issue as the online new home of pricing guru Charles Komanoff, who most recently praised retiring New York Times columnist Paul Krugman for his support for the tolls. We were in court over and over again as judges heard arguments for and against the toll. We were there last month to call out Hochul when the clock started ticking after Donald Trump won the presidential election. We were on the scene when Hochul finally admitted defeat and put the toll back in play for 2025.
And we're still there as the remaining stragglers refuse to even accept a settlement to end this charade.
Hochul's folly
State lawmakers led by disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo passed New York's congestion pricing law in 2019 in response to the highly publicized 2017 "summer of hell." Finally, after years of neglect, the politicians agreed that the MTA needed a large capital construction package. A toll on drivers would make it happen.
Hochul's "indefinite pause" abandoned that promise. Sure, she revived the toll after the election, but the damage had been done: The governor spent the summer insisting she could find $15 billion elsewhere, even as state legislators refused to budge on the bill they passed in 2019.
Finding $15 billion for MTA capital improvements — which requires about $1 billion in cash revenue on which to float bonds — is hard. New York politicians are loathe to raise taxes, especially since raising taxes was how they shored up the MTA's operating budget last year. And that's before figuring out how to fund the MTA's next capital plan, which by law can't rely on congestion pricing funds legally allocated for the current plan.
But in this case, the pols had already done the hard work. Hochul is the one who undid that ... making it that much harder.
The MTA had to pause the vital modernization efforts congestion pricing is meant to fund during the "indefinite pause." Those efforts were already years behind because of pandemic-related delays.
And thanks to Hochul's unsteady leadership, New York may still wind up $15 billion short on paying for them — if any one of the lawsuits against congestion pricing even wins a court-ordered pause, the program could get delayed until after President-elect Trump takes office.
After that, all bets are off, as Trump has vowed to stop congestion pricing.
What is clear is that Hochul, and Cuomo before her, had five years to get this toll launched, secure the MTA's future and cut traffic and emissions in the busiest parts of New York City. Instead, they dithered — and possibly handed the fate of New York's transit system over to Donald Trump.
