Gov. Kathy Hochul is under pressure to implement congestion pricing to help fund the subways.
Credit...Cindy Schultz for The New York Times

New York to Revive Congestion Pricing With $9 Toll

Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to announce the revised program on Thursday with the aim of putting it in place before Donald Trump takes office.

by · NY Times

New York will revive its once-abandoned plan for the nation’s first congestion-pricing program, but at a reduced rate of a $9 toll for most vehicles to enter Midtown and Lower Manhattan, according to five people familiar with the matter.

Gov. Kathy Hochul intends to announce the state’s revised proposal on Thursday, lowering the initial $15 charge for cars to enter Manhattan’s core at peak hours.

The new plan would be fast-tracked for implementation. It would go before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board for approval next week, and would most likely take effect before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office in January — a time frame that aims to pre-empt Mr. Trump’s vows to kill the program.

State officials believe that they will not need to repeat the lengthy environmental review process because the previous review accounted for a range of tolls from $9 to $23. The state and city must sign an agreement with transportation officials in the Biden administration, who have been supportive of the plan.

The last-minute effort to save the tolling plan comes as Ms. Hochul has faced growing pressure from transit advocates and state lawmakers to secure funding for the transit system. She also faces legal challenges from supporters of congestion pricing.

Ms. Hochul shocked New Yorkers in June when she announced she would pause the toll “indefinitely” just weeks before it was slated to go into effect. She has consistently insisted that she held up the plan because she believed that a $15 toll was too high, but many speculated that she also believed the toll could hurt Democrats in the November election.

The plan serves dual purposes: reducing traffic and clearing the air on New York City streets, and raising roughly $1 billion each year to support the city’s ailing subways, buses and two commuter train lines.

The state had already spent more than half a billion dollars to get the long-awaited tolling program off the ground, much of it for cameras and tolling software as well as consulting fees from transportation experts. With the infrastructure already in place, transit officials have said the program can begin as soon as it is approved.

Ms. Hochul is expected to propose a 40 percent reduction across the board to the previously approved tolling structure, according to the people familiar with the matter. That could mean a significant break not only for passenger cars, but also for commercial trucks and passengers taking taxis and Ubers. The news was first reported by Gothamist.

The governor’s office confirmed a congestion-pricing announcement will be made on Thursday.

“Governor Hochul paused congestion pricing because a daily $15 toll was too much for hard-working New Yorkers in this economic climate,” a spokesman said. “Tomorrow, the governor will announce the path forward to fund mass transit, declog our streets and improve public health by reducing air pollution.”

It is not clear if the state will be able to raise $1 billion a year with a lower toll structure. State officials say privately that with a $9 fee instead of $15, more motorists may decide to drive into Manhattan, at least partially offsetting the loss in revenue from the lower toll.

Ardent supporters of congestion pricing still favor a $15 toll, but they have come around to supporting a $9 charge even though it would be likely to bring fewer immediate benefits in terms of reducing traffic and improving air quality. They say the lower rate is a realistic alternative to get congestion pricing up and running. Then, they say, the tolls can eventually be phased in to the higher rates.

Betsy Plum, executive director of Riders Alliance, a riders group, celebrated the governor’s decision to bring back congestion pricing.

“In this new era, New York leaders must govern with more courage than ever before,” she said. “If she moves forward, Governor Hochul will demonstrate the kind of leadership that we will need in abundance and which riders will continue to demand from her.”

Under a revised plan with a 40 percent toll reduction, cars would pay an off-peak rate of $2.25 from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on weekdays, and from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. on weekends.

Trucks would be charged $14.40 or $21.60 during peak hours, depending on size. And passengers would see an extra per-ride surcharge of 75 cents in taxis and $1.50 in Ubers and Lyfts.

Passenger cars would also receive a discount for entering the congestion zone through four Manhattan tunnels — the Lincoln, Holland, Hugh L. Carey and Queens-Midtown — during peak hours, with a proposed credit of up to $5 going down to $3.

Five House Republicans representing parts of New York City and its suburbs wrote to Mr. Trump on Tuesday blasting the program as “oppressive taxation regime” and asking the president-elect to try to quash it.

“We request your commitment to ending this absurd congestion- pricing cash grab once and for all,” wrote the lawmakers, who included Representatives Nicole Malliotakis, Mike Lawler, Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota and Anthony D’Esposito.

Criticism also came from suburban drivers and from parts of New York City that were worried about pollution driven by changes to traffic patterns.

Some critics filed lawsuits, including the Trucking Association of New York and Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey. It is unclear how those claims will proceed.

Supporters of congestion pricing also filed lawsuits, and Ms. Hochul’s expected announcement on Thursday would come a day before the governor is to submit legal papers defending the pause in congestion pricing in two lawsuits filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The lawsuits argue that the governor did not have the authority to stop congestion pricing and undermined the state’s environmental goals. In September, Justice Arthur F. Engoron had rejected the governor’s request to dismiss the cases filed by the Riders Alliance and the City Club of New York.

Mayor Eric Adams, a conservative Democrat, said at a news conference on Tuesday that he supported whatever Ms. Hochul decided to do.

“I appreciate that she’s listening to people that she disagrees with and people that she agrees with,” he said.

Ana Ley and Nicholas Fandos contributed reporting.

Politics in the New York Region