What now? A post-election plan for congestion pricing

With an incoming President committed to slashing federal transit funding, inflicting as much damage as he can on New York, and who has even promised to “TERMINATE Congestion Pricing in my FIRST WEEK back in office,” we're heading into a period where riders need our state government to lead the way.

To prepare for this reality, Governor Hochul must reverse her politically-motivated decision to “pause” congestion pricing and take immediate action to start the program, otherwise it will be dead come January.

The good news: it’s the easiest thing the Governor can do to prepare for the Trump administration. Within an afternoon, the Governor can sign the documents to start tolling and safeguard our transit system from catastrophic underfunding that will set us back decades.

Unfortunately, in yesterday’s post-election address to New Yorkers, the Governor presented no concrete plans to restart the program and instead commented that she’ll make an announcement on transit funding by the end of the year. Continuing to delay, forestall, and distract from restarting the program is nonsense. And the Governor knows it.

Simply put, if Governor Hochul proposes any significant changes to the congestion pricing plan that was adopted by the MTA after years of debate, study, and scrutiny through the Traffic Mobility Review Board, it would mean restarting those studies, public hearings, board votes, and—most importantly—federal approvals. 

Assuming the federal government won’t be eager to fund transit projects in New York, we’ll need to secure as much funding from the state budget as possible to finance transit improvements. That becomes much harder to do when the Governor is already floating ideas like increasing the payroll mobility tax just to replace a fraction of the $15 billion congestion pricing will generate on its own.

The transit funding needs in this year’s state budget are massive. The state legislature will be called to find billions to ensure that the maintenance, resilience, and accessibility projects in the upcoming 5-year capital plan can move forward while simultaneously trying to fill the $15 billion gap in the current plan. 

And while the situation feels dire, because it is, that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do. In fact, this moment requires us to leverage our power in Albany to continue getting things done for riders no matter who's in the White House. To that end, here's one thing you can do right now:

Tell Governor Hochul to start congestion pricing now. Call her office at (518) 474-8390 and tell her, plainly, she needs to start the program immediately before it's gone forever.