New York governor blocks downtown tolling plan at the last minute
License plate reading cameras for congestion pricing installed over Lexington Avenue on December 18, 2023 in New York City. Cars entering Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak periods were to be charged a toll of up to 15 dollars per day. Liao Pan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images
Citing economic hardships, Gov. Kathy Hochul put an indefinite hold on the congestion pricing plan for Lower Manhattan, upending a decade of planning to reduce traffic and air pollution.
Lower Manhattan’s notoriously crowded streets won’t be getting clearer in the next few weeks, after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday put on indefinite hold a plan to charge drivers tolls for entering the most congested part of New York City.
Hochul, a Democrat, released a video statement saying the plan to charge car drivers $15 to enter the area south of Central Park “risks too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers at this time.”
“The goals of congestion pricing in terms of reducing traffic and pollution are important, but hard-working New Yorkers are getting hammered on costs, and they—and the economic vitality of our city—must be protected,” she said. “The idea behind congestion pricing is that it will encourage many current drivers to shift to public transit. But there is a third possibility that now poses a greater threat than it did at the program’s inception: Drivers can now choose to stay home altogether.”
The move instantly angered the many transportation, environment and urban planning advocates who championed congestion pricing through several mayoral and gubernatorial administrations.
“Delaying congestion pricing will only hurt millions of transit riders relying on improvements and hinder the economic success of our broader region,” said Kate Slevin, executive vice president of the Regional Plan Association. “This move is a total betrayal of New Yorkers and our climate. We call on the governor to stay firm to her commitment to move congestion pricing forward and not cave to politics.”
New York would have been the first city in the U.S. with congestion pricing, following similar efforts abroad in London, Singapore and Stockholm.
The governor’s decision comes just weeks before the tolls were scheduled to be put in place on June 30. License plate-reading cameras have already been installed on light posts and on gantries around the perimeter of the toll zone.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the region’s buses and subways, planned to raise $15 billion from the tolls to pay for new trains, new signals and other modernization projects. Some of the money was also designated for the Metro North and the Long Island Rail Road—the two commuter rail systems MTA operates.
The governor said she would work to replace the revenue the transit system would lose from the indefinite pause of the tolling plan.
Hochul had previously supported the congestion pricing plan, which had been in the works for more than a decade. But officials from New Jersey and the outer boroughs rallied against it. Opponents filed half a dozen lawsuits to halt the tolling plan.
Politically, Hochul is also under pressure to help Democrats win congressional seats in New York this November, which could flip control of the U.S. House into their favor.
Both Politico and Fox News reported that U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat, pressed Hochul to delay the tolling scheme. But Jeffries’ spokesperson Andy Eichar disputed that Wednesday. “For years, Leader Hakeem Jeffries has maintained neutrality with respect to the congestion pricing policy debate. Nothing has changed in that regard,” Eichar said in a statement.
“To the extent immediate implementation of congestion pricing is being reconsidered, Leader Jeffries supports a temporary pause of limited duration to better understand the financial impact on working class New Yorkers who have confronted a challenging inflationary environment as a result of the pandemic. We will continue to find ways to lower costs for everyday Americans and strengthen mass transportation in New York State,” he added.
But Hochul’s decision did win her praise from fellow Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, a Democrat who tried to block New York from implementing congestion pricing.
“Although we have had a difference of opinion with our colleagues in New York on congestion pricing implementation, we have always had a shared vision for growing our regional economy, investing in infrastructure, protecting our environment and creating good-paying jobs on both sides of the Hudson River,” he said in a statement. “We fully embrace the notion that the success of Manhattan is inextricably linked to the prosperity of the entire Tri-State Area.”
Daniel C. Vock is a senior reporter for Route Fifty based in Washington, D.C.
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