New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is reportedly considering tapping the brakes on the state’s controversial congestion pricing plan over worries that it could hurt House Democrats in November’s election, insiders hinted.
Hochul’s camp has recently started voicing concerns about the plan to charge motorists $15 for entering Manhattan south of 60th Street, three people familiar with the governor’s thinking told POLITICO.
The idea to potentially push the plan’s June 30 start date back was supposedly planted by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is vying to win back the Democratic majority this year, a fourth source explained.
“It is welcome news that Governor Hochul is considering delaying congestion pricing, scheduled to begin June 30, due to our pressure, the public‘s outcry and concerns it will impact Democrats in November’s election,” Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said on Wednesday.
“I urge my fellow New Yorkers to continue calling their city, state and federal representatives because it is working. They are feeling the heat and this war-on-cars cash grab must be reversed!” she added.
Congestion pricing – which was pitched as a way to reduce city traffic, raise money for public transit, and improve air quality – has been slammed by both sides of the aisle as a “cash grab” that will drain even locals who don’t own cars.
Therefore, delaying the much-maligned toll may be a last-ditch effort for Dems to clinch some support and potentially seize back power from the GOP in November, the sources suggested.
However, the rumors that Hochul might push back the pricing plan were met with hostility from mass transit advocates – some of whom said that the governor needed to “stiffen [her] resolve.”
“New York City public transit riders gave Governor Hochul her margin of victory in the 2022 election. Stopping congestion pricing before it even starts would be an outrageous betrayal of our trust,” Rider Alliance Executive Director Betsy Plum said.
“Congestion pricing is the only public policy that can make our subway more reliable and accessible, speed up slow bus service, and help clear the air as wildfire smoke thickens. Governor Hochul must turn it on June 30 as planned,” Plum insisted.
Whispers about a possible pricing plan delay also came hot on the heels of several lawsuits challenging the new charge – including a recent filing from the Trucking Association of New York that denounced the extra tolls for big rigs as “excessive.”
Even Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has railed against the plan, which he sued to block earlier this spring.
The congestion pricing plan was passed into law five years ago by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
In that time, the legislation has remained widely unpopular, with an April Siena College poll revealing that about 63% of New Yorkers oppose the plan, POLITICO reported.
Gov. Hochul’s office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
