New York Gov. Hochul Moving Fast on Congestion Pricing

Congestion pricing cameras at West End Avenue looking north from W. 60th St. in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News via Tribune Content Agency)

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NEW YORK — Gov. Kathleen Hochul is negotiating a modified version of congestion pricing with the feds that would start the Manhattan toll at $9 per day before ramping it back up to the $15 plan paused by the governor this summer, according to multiple sources — but in order to put a tolling plan into action before the inauguration of President-elect Trump, who has vowed to kill the plan, the state may have to act within the week.

“We’ll be making some announcements in the near future on what is going to transpire with respect to congestion pricing,” Hochul told reporters Nov. 12.

“These conversations are not new — we have been in communication with the White House, the Federal Highway Administration, [President] Biden, [his] chief of staff, [and Transportation] Secretary [Pete] Buttigieg since June to talk about my belief that, when inflation was escalating and New Yorkers were struggling, that $15 was just too much,” she said. “I still believe that, while inflation is starting to come down [and] we’re seeing some progress, $15 is still too much.”

Hochul added that a proposal to “solve the funding for the [Metropolitan Transportation Authority]” would be in place by the end of the year, adding that her plan would “fund the [capital] program, deal with mitigation of environmental impacts, [and] congestion mitigation as well.”

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Congestion pricing — which in its final version was a $15-a-day base toll to drive into Midtown and lower Manhattan set to start this past June — was required by law to back the issuance of $15 billion in bonding earmarked for MTA’s 2020-2024 capital plan. That plan includes projects like the Second Ave. subway expansion, modern subway signaling and elevators in 23 subway stations.

The toll was set to go into effect June 30 before Hochul “indefinitely” paused it June 5.

Though she had been a major booster of congestion pricing in the run-up, she said at the time she feared the toll would bring economic hardship to New Yorkers. Many observers also cited several competitive House races in moderate districts as a potential reason for the pause.

RELATED: Governor Hochul Sued Over NYC Congestion Pricing Freeze

Last week, reports out of SOMOS, the annual New York political conference in Puerto Rico, indicated that Hochul has been meeting with the feds to negotiate the possibility of a “soft start” to congestion tolling, easing motorists in with a lower initial toll.

Several sources with knowledge of the matter have confirmed those ongoing conversations to the Daily News, saying Hochul has been floating an initial $9-a-day toll, which would ramp up over an unknown period of time before reaching $15 a day.

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But the clock is ticking if Hochul hopes to establish the toll — which would require a final sign-off from the federal Department of Transportation — ahead of Trump’s return to the White House.

Hochul’s June 5 pause came 39 days into a 60-day public education period mandated by the state. Even if the governor were to un-pause congestion pricing unchanged, and return to a $15 base toll, sources say MTA couldn’t legally flip the switch to turn on tolling for another 21 days.

RELATED: Federal Judge Hears Arguments on NYC Congestion Pricing

And any change to the plan — like a lower initial toll — will need to be approved before that countdown can resume.

The congestion pricing plan in its final iteration was the result of multiple studies by MTA and checks by federal regulators. The environmental assessment, greenlit by the feds in May, was years in the making.

Hochul’s proposed initial toll is likely set to $9 because that was the lowest toll studied in the federally approved assessment — and the hope is such a toll would not trigger a new and lengthy federal approval process, sources said.

But a $9 initial toll ramping up to $15 would still need to pass a vote of MTA’s board, which approved an advisory board’s proposal of the straight $15 toll in March.

Only after an MTA board vote approving a lower initial toll would the remaining 21 days of the mandated 60-day public education program begin — meaning congestion pricing couldn’t begin for three weeks after an approval by the MTA’s board.

While the MTA can, by law, call an emergency meeting of its board, the transit leaders have only two meetings on the books before inauguration day: Nov. 20 and Dec. 18.

A December vote would push any activation of the tolling infrastructure into January — and possibly into the Trump administration.

Any amended plan will also need a sign-off by the Federal Highway Administration, ensuring that it will still operate within the bounds of the previously approved environmental assessment.

As to whether that means MTA’s board will be voting on new versions of congestion pricing next week, the governor is playing it close to the vest.

“We’ve been told literally nothing,” one board member said. “I have faith that the governor will do what she’s promised to do in support of the capital plan.”