NEW YORK– Governor Kathy Hochul will make an announcement on congestion pricing in New York City on Thursday, her office said.
“Governor Hochul ended the congestion pricing because a $15 daily toll was too much for hardworking New Yorkers in this economic climate. Tomorrow, the Governor will announce the path forward to fund public transportation, clear our streets, and improve public health by reducing air pollution. Hochul’s office said Wednesday.
The governor has said that before she wanted to end her pause about the planand lowering the toll from $15 to $9.
“These conversations are not new. We’ve been in contact with the White House, the Federal Highway Administration, [President Joe] Biden’s Chief of Staff, Secretary [Pete] Buttigieg since June,” Hochul said Tuesday.
Hochul interrupted the program just weeks before it happened will start again in June. She now appears ready to try to launch the program before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump has promised to kill it.
Word of Hochul’s desire to end her hiatus from the program drew the ire of a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Wednesday.
“Gov. Hochul can do whatever she wants to thwart this over the next two months and ultimately this program will be dead, period,” said Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents several communities in the northern suburbs.
Lawler said he would introduce a bill called the Anti-Congestion Tax Act, which would deny federal support to the MTA if drivers have to pay a fee to enter Manhattan’s Central Bustiness District, below 60th Street.
Republican lawmakers have done so promised to block the rollout until Trump comes to power in January 2025. Meanwhile Several lawsuits have been filed on both sides.
