Hochul moves to revive Manhattan toll plan after Trump win

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has taken a step to revive congestion pricing before President-elect Donald Trump, who opposes the extra toll, takes office.

In recent days, the governor’s office asked the U.S. Department of Transportation whether implementing congestion pricing with lower tolls than the planned $15 for drivers entering parts of Manhattan would require another lengthy environmental review, two people with knowledge of the conversations told POLITICO. They were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

“She’s asking for it to go from $15 to $9,” said one of the people, an MTA board member.

Hochul halted congestion pricing just before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was to begin tolling drivers entering Manhattan’s central business district this summer, revenue the transit agency slotted for repairs and upgrades to its aging system. Congestion pricing was expected to help raise $15 billion.

Hochul had said she was concerned the tolling plan, which is widely unpopular in the suburbs, would hurt Democrats this fall. The party ended up flipping three New York congressional seats and keeping every other — a victory amid a national trouncing by the GOP.

Reducing the toll to $9 is significant because the MTA received approval for congestion pricing from the Biden administration after officials spent years studying a range of $9 to $23 tolls for passenger vehicles.

By keeping the toll within the range that’s already been analyzed, Hochul appears to be hoping for a quick greenlight while Biden remains president.

A federal DOT official said they had not yet received a formal request from New York.

A spokesperson for Hochul declined to comment on recent communication with the DOT, and referred POLITICO to the governor’s comments at a press conference this week, when she said she had spoken with the Biden administration in advance of the election to prepare for a potential Trump victory.

“I spoke to the White House about this three days ago,” Hochul said Wednesday. “They understand our need to take affirmative steps to ensure that nothing compromises the MTA.”

Unless the plan is secured before Trump is in the White House, congestion pricing is all but dead. The tolls are especially unpopular with Republicans, and Trump pledged in May to “TERMINATE Congestion Pricing in my FIRST WEEK back in Office!!”