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NY Gov. Kathy Hochul in screeching U-turn on Manhattan congestion pricing just weeks before it was due to go into effect
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday that she is canceling the planned MTA congestion pricing model that was set to go into effect in just a few weeks.
Saying via pre-recorded video statement that now is 'not the right time' to inflict the sky-high tolls on New Yorkers who are already struggling to make ends meet, she said the plan will be tabled indefinitely.
The system, which has been years in the making, intended to raise billions of dollars that would subsequently fund improvements fro the city's old subways, while simultaneously decreasing midtown gridlock and air pollution.
The plan would have charged commuters in cars, SUVs and pick-up trucks $15 a day to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. Trucks would have been subject to tolls ranging rom $24 to $36 depending on size. And motorcyclists would be facing a $7.50 fee to enter.
Taxi and rideshare drivers would also be required to add $1.25 and $2.50, respectively, to their individual ride totals.
In her video, Hochul acknowledged the potentially untenable cost these fees might have inflicted upon working and middle-class New Yorkers who have to commute to Manhattan everyday.
'Let's be real a $15 charge might not seem like a lot to someone who has the means but it can break the budget of a hardworking or middle class household,' she said.
'It puts the squeeze on the very people who make this city go,' she added, speaking about teachers, firefighters, and other working people of New York.
'I cannot add another burden to working middle class New Yorkers or create another obstacle to our continued economic recovery,' she said, noting that she had arrived at the 'difficult decision that implementing the planned congestion pricing system risks too many unintended consequences at this time.'
The Democrat leader, an avid supporter of Joe Biden and his reelection effort, has been an adamant supporter of the congestion pricing plan, criticizing drivers who voiced frustration and campaigned against its implementation.
Her change of heart is being seen as a betrayal by the groups, including transit advocates and environmental activists, who have spent years rallying around this issue.
The New York Post reported that insiders close to Hochul said the governor, who will likely run for reelection in two years, 'doesn't think we can New Yorkers to pay a new fee at a time when the cost of living has gone up so dramatically.'
A second source added: 'The governor is concerned about the economic recovery in Manhattan and the cost of living. New Yorkers are struggling. It's not the right time to do it.'
The congestion pricing plan was originally passed into law by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo, much to the dismay of Republicans representing parts of New York in Congress, as well as a handful of New Jersey politicians whose constituents would have been negatively impacted by the plan.
Protesters demonstrate outside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's Manhattan office, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in New York. Hochul is indefinitely delaying implementation of a plan to charge motorists big tolls to enter the core of Manhattan, just weeks before the nation's first 'congestion pricing' system was set to launch
Hochul, a staunch supporter of President Joe Biden and his reelection effort, reportedly felt that amid a poor economy, inflation and cost of living crisis, she could not inlfict significant fees on the workers of New York who commute everyday
'After a five-year fight, New York appears to have done right by hardworking Jersey families and backed off their outrageous Congestion Tax,' NJ Representative Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat, told the Post.
'I want to thank Gov. Hochul, Gov. [Phil] Murphy, Fort Lee Mayor [Mark] Sokolich, all involved elected officials, and especially the tireless advocates who focused on the key facts: The Congestion Tax would have caused more traffic and cancer-causing pollution for families in northern Jersey and the outer boroughs,' he said.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams also supported the cancelation of the plan. He said that congestion pricing 'should not be an undue burden on everyday New Yorkers.'
The MTA has already spent tens of millions of dollars installing cameras, sensors, and license plate readers - among other things - on relevant roads in anticipation of the plan.