NEW YORK — A replacement plan for the discontinued congestion pricing program will be announced late this year, likely after Election Day.
Gov. Kathy Hochul told POLITICO in an interview Monday that she plans to roll out a plan in the coming months to get state lawmakers on board.
“We’ll be announcing it toward the end of the year because the Legislature has to act on it,” she said, speaking from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. “It’s more likely to be announced toward the end of the year, early next year, if we can get the Legislature on board.”
Hochul in June announced an “indefinite pause” on the unpopular congestion pricing program, which would have cost drivers $15 if they entered Manhattan below 60th Street.
The toll money would be used to borrow $15 billion for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s investment plan to fund infrastructure improvements to New York City’s neglected public transit system.
Polls have shown congestion pricing to be controversial in New York. But Hochul faced criticism for her last-minute decision from business leaders and Democrats who had supported the program as a way to pay for infrastructure projects and reduce emissions.
Hochul has insisted that congestion pricing should be stopped because of the financial burden it places on working New Yorkers. But the tolls were also suspended months before November’s elections, including a half-dozen battleground races in New York’s House of Representatives that could determine control of the closely divided chamber.
The governor said Monday that the decision to delay the implementation of the toll program was not made with the political calendar in mind, contradicting claims made by several people with knowledge of the matter.
“It has nothing to do with elections,” she said. “We are studying other options.”
But Republicans have scoffed at the timing of the delay, as well as the introduction of a new revenue plan after the election.
“It’s the same political two-step that Albany and this governor play all the time,” Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro, who faces a tough challenge, said in an interview.
The New York Post reported Sunday that Hochul was considering a possible compromise to exempt city workers and reduce tolls. Two people confirmed to POLITICO Monday that the idea had been floated, but that no broader progress had been made on an alternative revenue plan this summer.
Hochul’s fellow party members in the state Legislature in June rejected plans at the last minute to replace congestion pricing revenue, including a $1 billion bond proposal and a mobility tax increase.
