Hochul announces ‘indefinite pause’ for controversial New York City toll plan

ALBANY, New York — A $15 toll plan meant to reduce traffic in Manhattan below 60th Street that has become a political headache for Democrats in New York will be halted indefinitely, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday.

Hochul in a videotaped message said she would ask top officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to "pause" the implementation of the plan, known as congestion pricing, a reversal of her public support for it.

The whiplash move by the governor, first reported Tuesday evening by POLITICO, comes as New York City has struggled to regain lost office workers and tourism following the Covid-19 pandemic — a problem that Hochul believes could be made worse by the tolls.

The congestion pricing plan was first set in motion in 2019 by state officials and was considered a major revenue raiser for the MTA, the region's mass transit agency, and as a way to reduce carbon emissions and traffic in the city.

But Hochul on Wednesday said a confluence of concerns over the impact of the tolls on working people was a major factor in her decision.

"Circumstances have changed and we must respond to the facts on the ground and not the rhetoric of five years ago," she said.

The decision by Hochul leaves a host of unanswered questions, including how the MTA will make up the expected annual $1 billion in revenue. The money would have gone to a larger $15 billion capital plan for public transportation improvements.

And the delay is a bitter development for environmental and mass transit advocates, as well as business leaders who had supported the initial plan.

"We cannot drive our way out of the climate crisis — and we shouldn’t let a small number of drivers who refuse to take mass transit in the most transit-rich region of the country dictate transportation policy," Julie Tighe, the president of the influential New York League of Conversation Voters, said.

Pete Sikora of New York Communities for Change worried about the impact of the decision.

“We can’t have Hochul take us back to the summer of hell. We need transit funded properly, not protection for rich suburbanites," Sikora said. "You can’t pull back on promises that you made and then expect to win. … Don’t be stupid, Hochul.”

Council member Lincoln Restler put it more bluntly: “Governor Hochul has betrayed us."

Still, centrist Democratic elected officials in New York and New Jersey — including those in competitive elections this year — had raised alarm over the potential impact of tolling on their constituents driving into midtown Manhattan. On Wednesday, they cheered Hochul's move.

“Since day one, I’ve fought alongside countless Hudson Valley families against this unfair, uninformed, and unacceptable congestion pricing plan," said Rep. Pat Ryan, a Democrat in a battleground Hudson Valley seat who had called for exemptions to the tolls. "Today, I’m proud to say we’ve stopped congestion pricing in its tracks."

Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, one of New Jersey's most vocal critics of the plan, celebrated it is a victory Wednesday for drivers and the environment.

"We know what the effects would have been — not just on people's wallets. I’m talking about the traffic that would have increased and of course all the pollution that would have plumed into northern New Jersey and the outer boroughs," he told reporters. "Now our job is to get back to making sure we do what New Jersey and New York do so well, work together."

Jeff Coltin and Matt Friedman contributed to this report.