Trump’s Election Lends NYC Congestion Pricing Program New Urgency

Supporters of New York City’s shelved congestion pricing plan are urging Governor Kathy Hochul to let the program move forward before President-Elect Trump’s inauguration, when Trump has promised he would kill the program. 

“Hochul’s decision to pause the tolls ended up not even serving her political goals, with experts saying the issue barely registered in Tuesday’s vote, even as Democrats won three Republican-held suburban congressional seats,” writes Dave Colon in Streetsblog NYC.

The governor could still revive the plan in time to get it passed before January. As Colon reminds readers, the program would be a major funding source for transportation and infrastructure projects. “The MTA paused $16 billion worth of capital projects this summer because it had no way to pay for them once Hochul paused the tolls.”

According to Colon, “It’s unclear whether Hochul intends to keep congestion pricing or try to find major project funding for the MTA elsewhere — a tricky proposition with the also partially unfunded MTA 2025-29 capital plan on the horizon.”