As Trump’s New Term Looms, Hochul Considers Reviving Congestion Pricing

Gov. Kathy Hochul, facing pressure from supporters of the contentious tolling plan, is said to be exploring options for adopting it in some form.

Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York is exploring options for reviving a congestion pricing plan for New York City before President-elect Donald J. Trump has a chance to kill it, according to four people familiar with the matter.

Ms. Hochul’s move to salvage the contentious plan comes as she faces pressure from various corners, including a group that represents transit riders, and is planning to start an advertising blitz on Monday in support of the tolling program.

The plan that Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, is now exploring differs slightly from the one she halted in June. She is trying to satisfy opponents who had complained about the $15 congestion-pricing toll that most motorists would have had to pay as well as supporters who want to reduce car traffic and fund mass transit improvements.

The governor has talked to federal officials about the possibility of a $9 toll and about whether such a change might require the lengthy, involved process of additional environmental review, according to a Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member familiar with the matter. The discussions were first reported by Politico.

Mr. Trump, a Republican, has said he opposes congestion pricing, and his victory on Tuesday has apparently pushed Ms. Hochul to try to find a compromise.

“The timing is everything,” said Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for Riders Alliance, the riders’ group that is planning the ad blitz. If congestion pricing has not started by January, he added “it’s very unlikely it would start.”

“If it has started,” he continued, “it’s very unlikely that Trump would succeed in stopping it.”

If congestion pricing were to start before Mr. Trump is in the White House, several legal and transportation experts said, he could try to revoke federal approval or threaten to withhold federal funding. But he would not have unilateral power to quash the program, and his administration would most likely have to go to federal court to undo it, these experts added.

Supporters of congestion pricing believe they are in a race against time to save a program that would be the first of its kind in the United States. The plan, which state lawmakers approved in 2019, would charge most vehicles a fee to enter Manhattan below 60th Street.

The Riders Alliance plans to increase the pressure on Ms. Hochul with an ad campaign that blames worsening traffic and slower ambulance response time in New York City on her decision to halt congestion pricing.

“Governor Hochul must put public safety, clean air and public transit above cheap political stunts,” says the ad, which will appear on cable television, in digital ads and on social media over the next two weeks.

Ms. Hochul paused the tolling plan just weeks before its scheduled June start date. She was concerned, she said, that the tolls could stifle the city’s economic recovery in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

But congestion pricing was also deeply unpopular among many residents of the city and the suburbs. Opponents, including influential labor unions, said the plan was an attempt to raise money for a perpetually cash-starved transit system with a shadow tax on commuters.

Congestion pricing has been the subject of nine lawsuits trying to block it. And about two-thirds of the New Yorkers who responded to a Siena College survey in April said they opposed the program.

The tolling plan was expected to reduce the number of vehicles entering the congestion zone by about 17 percent and to improve traffic and air quality. It was also projected to help raise $15 billion in financing for the M.T.A., which runs the city’s subway and buses and two commuter train lines.

Mr. Trump jumped into the debate with a May 7 post on his Truth Social social media platform. “I can’t believe that New York City is instituting Congestion Pricing,” he wrote, “where everyone has to pay a fortune for the ‘privilege’ of coming into the City, which is in desperate trouble without it.”

“It is a big incentive not to come — there are plenty of other places to go,” added Mr. Trump, whose namesake building in Manhattan, Trump Tower, is in the congestion zone. “Hopefully, it will soon be withdrawn!”

A spokesman for Mr. Trump declined to comment on Friday about whether the president-elect would take action on the program.

Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican congresswoman who represents Staten Island, said on Thursday that Ms. Hochul’s failure to proceed immediately with congestion pricing after the election was a sign of Mr. Trump’s influence.

“President Trump hasn’t even been sworn in yet and New Yorkers are already winning,” she wrote on social media.

Ms. Hochul told reporters on Friday that her conversations with federal officials over the tolling plan were “not new” and that she was not ready to announce anything. She promised an update by the end of the year.

“We’ll be very happy to release all the details, but it’s still ongoing,” she said of her deliberations.

The federal Transportation Department has not received a formal request from the governor to move forward with the plan, according to a federal official.

Congestion pricing’s fate was a major topic of conversation on Friday at Somos, an annual political conference in Puerto Rico, where Ms. Hochul was among those in attendance. Janno Lieber, the M.T.A.’s chief executive, met with state lawmakers at a table at the Caribe Hilton overlooking palm trees and the ocean.

Andrew Gounardes, a Democratic state senator from Brooklyn, was among those who met with Mr. Lieber. Mr. Gounardes said that there was no other plan to raise enough money for the transit system and that he was hopeful Ms. Hochul would move quickly to revive it.

“No one else has provided an alternative,” he said. “It’s this or nothing.”

In recent months, congestion pricing supporters have held more than a dozen rallies and have urged people to flood the governor’s office with calls. Some have lobbied Ms. Hochul and members of her staff in private conversations. One supporter, who raised the issue with the governor a few weeks ago, said she understood the need to act soon and had responded, “I told you it’s only a pause.”

Two lawsuits filed in State Supreme Court by the Riders Alliance, the City Club of New York and other groups have argued that the governor did not have the authority to stop congestion pricing and had undermined the state’s environmental goals. A decision in the cases could come as early as this month.

In recent weeks, a possible compromise has been floated by those on both sides of the debate: Reduce the size of the tolls and increase exemptions for drivers.

But a lower toll would mean less revenue for the transit agency, and some projects might have to be set aside. It could also be less of a deterrent for drivers and, as a result, mean fewer benefits related to traffic and air quality would be produced.

Ms. Hochul reiterated on Friday that she believed $15 was too high.

“That’s a lot of money for someone or a teacher who has to drive into Manhattan and cannot work remotely,” she said.

Michael Gerrard, a Columbia Law School professor who supports congestion pricing, said that changing the tolling structure now could violate the state law under which the program, was approved. The law requires toll collections to be sufficient to raise $15 billion in bonds for the M.T.A.

Brad Lander, the city comptroller and a supporter of congestion pricing, said in San Juan that he was optimistic about the litigation to restart congestion pricing. Mr. Lander, who is running for mayor against Eric Adams, said he was confident that the tolls could withstand Mr. Trump’s threats.

“Could he send in the National Guard to tear down the tolling infrastructure?” Mr. Lander said. “He can’t stop it within the rule of law.”

Ana Ley contributed reporting.

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