Gov. Kathy Hochul’s street present in assist of congestion pricing made a cease in Midtown Wednesday at an MTA board assembly — after her in-person pitch final week to President Donald Trump.
Vowing that New York “will not be steamrolled” by the federal authorities’s bid to close down the vehicle-tolling plan by a newly revealed March 21 deadline, Hochul cited the early positive aspects of the trouble to chop congestion and lift billions of {dollars} for mass-transit upgrades.
“I know there’s a lot of power in that Oval Office, but I’ll take that power up against the power of 6 million pissed-off commuters there in New York City,” Hochul mentioned.
She additionally pointed to a letter from Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy final week that referred to as for the “orderly cessation of toll operations” that kicked in Jan. 5.
“I will propose something in the alternative: orderly resistance, orderly resistance,” Hochul mentioned. ”We are going to hold standing up for New Yorkers, decreasing site visitors, air high quality goes to proceed bettering.”
Throughout Hochul’s cameo on the board assembly held in Grand Central Madison, she needled Trump whereas holding up a duplicate of the booklet she gave him throughout their Oval Workplace sitdown on Feb. 21, noting that it’s straightforward to learn.
“Congestion pricing is working — big words, nice colors,” she mentioned to laughs, pointing to a picture of an empty Manhattan avenue that cites a 43% drop in journey occasions from New Jersey.
The governor grinned whereas pointing to a different web page with a photograph of Trump Tower — “nice buildings that are recognizable,” she cracked — subsequent to the phrases “TOGETHER, WE WILL…”
Her pitch additionally highlighted transportation tasks within the MTA’s 2020-2024 capital plan which can be purported to be funded by congestion pricing revenues. These embrace the subsequent part of the Second Avenue Subway and preliminary design and engineering on the proposed Interborough Categorical gentle rail line between Brooklyn and Queens.
“The people of this great city and region deserve nothing but the best,” Hochul mentioned. “And when someone tries to say, ‘No, we have another vision for your city,’ we just have to stand up and say ‘We respectfully disagree,’ and take that to the courts, take it to the people.”
The MTA instantly sued USDOT in federal court docket after the Duffy order, which was adopted up days later by one other specifying that the tolling system have to be turned off by March 21.
The governor and MTA officers on Wednesday additionally continued to advertise a number of the preliminary successes made underneath the vehicle-tolling plan that was purported to launch in late June — when Hochul abruptly hit pause, a delay she moved to undo days after voters elected Trump for a second time period.
The early positive aspects embrace improved journey occasions throughout Hudson and East River bridges and tunnels, uncluttered streets, elevated transit ridership and sooner bus speeds on many categorical and native routes.
MTA Chairperson and CEO Janno Lieber mentioned the Jan. 5 launch of the first-in-the-nation congestion pricing program serves as proof of New York leaders being “not afraid to think big and tackle the region’s challenges.”
“Congestion pricing is one of the very few examples out there of government taking a big swing and then seeing immediate results for the public,” Lieber mentioned. “This is like when we prohibited smoking in bars and a few weeks after it was instituted, all the naysayers were admitting, ‘Oh this is going to work out after all.’”
Hochu additionally claimed “the psychology” has modified round congestion pricing, noting how one-time opponents have come round on it after experiencing sooner commutes.
“I can’t tell you how many people tell me, [in] places like Long Island, ‘I really hated the idea of congestion pricing,’” she mentioned.
Early Wins
Hochul and MTA leaders have mentioned congestion pricing scanners are staying on whereas the transit company does battle in Manhattan federal court docket towards the federal shutdown notification.
Congestion pricing launched after surviving a number of lawsuits filed on either side of the Hudson River.
“The important thing is there’s going to be no cessation unless a court orders it,” Lieber mentioned. “And we now have a matter pending in entrance of the Southern District [Manhattan federal court] the place, as they are saying within the sports activities enterprise, is a batting a thousand with all of the lawsuits.
“Amd we’re very optimistic about where this next one is headed.”
Transit officers reported earlier this week that, after its first 27 days in January, congestion pricing is on observe to lift the cash wanted for transit maintenance and enlargement tasks included within the company’s greater than $55 billion five-year capital plan.
President Donald Trump talks to the press alongside First Girl Melania Trump on the South Garden of the White Home, Jan. 24, 2025. Credit score: Jonah Elkowitz/Shutterstock
On Monday, the MTA revealed that the tolls generated $48.6 million in income from tolling motorists who drive into the so-called congestion reduction zone south of sixtieth Road in Manhattan.
That determine amounted to $37.5 million in web income after accounting for greater than $11 million on bills that embrace putting in and sustaining the scanners, working a customer support middle, bank card charges and work towards establishing environmental mitigation tasks in The Bronx.
In response to a query from THE CITY on Wednesday, Lieber mentioned the MTA is “moving full steam ahead” on tasks that may be jeopardized by a shutdown of congestion pricing, which embrace resignaling a number of subway strains and including elevators or ramps to extra stations=.
“One, [congestion pricing] in effect,” Lieber mentioned. “Two, we’re already starting to move, albeit slowly, toward borrowing and using it as a security for our borrowing and three, we are very confident that it’s going to sustain whatever new legal situations develop.”
Debra Greif, a disability-rights advocate and consumer of the MTA’s paratransit service, described how her Wednesday morning Entry-A-Experience journey from Brooklyn to the Midtown assembly had been accelerated by uncluttered streets.
“I got here in a little less than one hour,” she mentioned. “Before congestion pricing, I would have had to leave the house at 7 or even 6 o’clock just to get into Manhattan on time.”
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