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If Gov. Hochul 'unpauses' congestion pricing, can Trump kill it?

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Stephen Nessen

Published Nov 8, 2024

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Governor Kathy Hochul with Tim Walz and Wes Moore at the White House in July.

 

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

By

Stephen Nessen

Published Nov 8, 2024

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This column originally appeared in On The Way, a weekly newsletter covering everything you need to know about NYC-area transportation.

Sign up to get the full version, which includes answers to reader questions, trivia, service changes and more, in your inbox every Thursday.

The future of congestion pricing in New York City is even murkier now that Donald Trump has won a second term in the White House. And transportation advocates say the coming weeks may be Gov. Kathy Hochul’s last chance to reactivate the tolling program she paused five months ago, blowing a $15 billion hole in the MTA’s construction budget that was supposed to fund transit repairs and upgrades.

The clock is ticking. Earlier this year, Trump vowed on social media to “TERMINATE Congestion Pricing in my FIRST WEEK back in Office!!”

But if Hochul activates the tolls with the approval of the lame duck Biden administration, experts say Trump would have a hard time repealing them. Hochul has said she may relaunch the program with a different price structure than the $15 daytime toll originally approved by the MTA. But such a change would require a 60-day review period and Hochul’s running out of time. Trump's inauguration is in 74 days.

“All New Yorkers deserve reliable transit, clean air and safe streets, but we’re leaving our fate to Donald Trump, who has promised time and again to end congestion pricing and to slash federal funding for transit,” a group of transit advocates, real estate, business and environmental groups known as the Congestion Pricing Now coalition wrote in an email on Wednesday morning. “It’s time for Governor Hochul to turn on congestion pricing now and get this critical program up and running before the next administration takes office.”

In 2019, state lawmakers approved a congestion pricing program to charge drivers who enter Manhattan south of 60th Street. The program was scheduled to launch on June 30, but Hochul paused it on June 5. She said the cost was too high given economic inflation, adding that the tolls imperiled Manhattan’s post-pandemic recovery.

She also reportedly nixed the program as part of an effort to help Democrats in competitive suburban House races. Although it’s still unclear which party will take control of the House, Democrats appear likely to flip three New York seats from Republican control.

Experts argue time is quickly running out for the program, which was already delayed by years before Hochul brought it to a halt. Rachael Fauss, an analyst with the good government group Reinvent Albany, urged the governor to move quickly to relaunch the tolls.

“It's politics as much as a regulatory matter - for the federal government to pull the rug out from a locality that has already bonded out federally-approved revenues would create uncertainty in the bond market and have precedent beyond just [New York state],” she wrote in an email.

“The sooner Hochul flips the switch, the harder it will be for it to be turned off. Keep in mind that it really is just a toll — just done in a more novel way for the U.S,” Fauss added.

Hochul is not changing course, and gave no indication she was in a hurry to relaunch congestion pricing.

“Before the end of the year, in a timely enough frame, we will have our announcements and a plan and a [MTA] funding plan,” she said during a news conference on Wednesday.

MTA officials say they’re confident they’ve done everything correctly to ensure congestion pricing is enacted once Hochul lifts her pause, including conducting a lengthy study and defending the program in state and federal court.

But, because of the pause, Hochul still needs the Federal Highway Administration to sign off on the final paperwork. That’s just the kind of routine bureaucratic process that a Trump administration might not be willing to comply with.

“Federal and state officials have worked for years to make sure that congestion pricing has dotted every I and crossed every T of the law,” Danny Pearlstein, policy director for the transit advocacy group Riders Alliance, told Gothamist.

“Once it starts, it'll be tough to stop.” he said.

Have a question about subway cars (or literally anything else NYC-transit related)? Use this form to submit yours and we may answer it in a future newsletter!

But note that Curious Commuter questions are exclusive for On The Way newsletter subscribers. Sign up for free here.

Question from Camille in Brooklyn

I have been confused about the (non-MTA employee) security guards that recently appeared throughout the subway. I reached out to the MTA about them and was told they are there to stop turnstile jumpers. However, I mostly see them standing around looking at their phones and I have repeatedly seen the security guards jump turnstiles themselves!

These people are not helping anything. Is there any information about what the MTA's long-term plan is here? Are these useless security guards going to be there indefinitely? Wouldn't the money be better used for maintenance?

Answer

The private security guards from Allied Universal have been in the subways since 2022. The idea came out of the MTA’s “Blue Ribbon Panel” on fare evasion. The panel also proposed a redesign of the system’s turnstiles, which is expected to come in the next few years. While the security guards are often just standing around or on their phones, the MTA argues they deter “opportunistic” fare evaders. Think of the people who casually walk through an open exit gate. The MTA plans to increase the number of guards to over 1,000 by next year, at a cost of $35 million. The agency claims it loses about $300 million a year from fare evasion. Still, subway fare evasion has only increased since the program launched, from 12.5% of riders at the beginning of 2022, to 14% as of June. As for the allegations of turnstile jumping, MTA officials said the guards are issued unlimited MetroCards and would have no reason to evade the fare. Officials also said they've received no reports or complaints about Allied Universal employees skipping the fare gates.

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On The Way

Stephen Nessen

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Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].

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