New York Governor Flip-Flops on Congestion Tolls

Almost exactly a year ago, New York Governor Kathy Hochul introduced her state’s first plan to let drivers clog the streets of Manhattan and help pay for repairs to the subways and buses on which most New Yorkers depend, as a common sense solution.

“As a mother, I have had to deal with sick children a lot,” says the Democrat said. When a child gets sick, prescribing a decongestant “opens up spaces in the body,” she said, “to help people get better and live healthier lives.”

“That’s exactly what we’re doing here in New York City,” Hochul said. “We prescribe a decongestant.”

On Wednesday, with less than three weeks to go before the first dose, the governor abruptly halted New York City’s congestion pricing program, leaving a $1 billion-a-year hole in the state budget to upgrade a transit system that has so far lacked has been able to keep pace with a growing population and increasingly extreme weather.

“Circumstances have changed,” she said in a pre-recorded speech.

What remains constant, critics of the move say, is the governor’s sensitivity to pressure from local opponents of policies that provide statewide benefits.

“The whole thing is galactically stupid,” said Pete Sikora, senior adviser to the climate and anti-poverty group New York Communities for Change. “It’s part of a pattern of flip-flops like this.”

Since taking the Empire State’s highest office, Hochul has repeatedly embraced ambitious climate policies — and then caved to political backlash.

In April 2022, the governor boxed successfully opponents in the state to push through a major transmission project connecting New York City to Quebec’s hydropower system, and recently defeated 49 other states to launch the country’s first federally supported rebate program for energy-saving home renovations.

But last year, Hochul sided with Long Island Republicans vetoing legislation to get an offshore wind project off the ground. Around the same time, she signed legislation who may have violated federal law by giving in to anti-nuclear activists’ demands to block the company dismantling the Indian Point nuclear power plant from performing routine tasks. That same year she did too carved out the suburbs of an increase in a tax that funds the state’s transit system.

As lieutenant governor in 2019, she oversaw the passage of New York’s historic climate law. As governor in 2023, she has suggested changing the statute’s method for calculating methane emissions in a way that would downplay the gas’s most dangerous effects on warming. Amid backlash, she gone backwards again.

After making waves with a plan to mandate that suburbs that benefit from the state’s expensive commuter rail network take up their share of the growing population by building more apartments, abandon that strategyalso, amid fears of electoral backlash in the 2024 elections.

But the congestion charge promised to cement a climate legacy for Hochul by paving the way for the rest of the country to choose one of the simplest ways to reduce global warming pollution from America’s largest source of emissions : charging drivers to make trains. and buses function better. If such a policy can’t make it in America’s densest and least car-dependent city, where can it go?

Given Hochul’s outspoken support for congestion pricing, Wednesday’s reversal surprised proponents.

“Sometimes you get rumors that these things are in the works, but not this time,” said Kate Slevin, executive director of the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit that advocates for modernizing New York’s public transportation. “It was a shock.”

When Charles Komanoff saw Hochul speak in Manhattan’s Union Square last December in support of congestion pricing, he said, “She was able to make the case very clearly and unequivocally, unapologetically and with a kind of homespun eloquence that really impressed me.” the impression was.”

“To go from that to this is nothing short of mind-boggling,” said the New York-based energy analyst and national expert on congestion pricing.

“You hate to use the word treason or disloyalty,” he added. “But it is quite difficult to understand, because she has already suffered a certain political blow because of her problems with and for the congestion charge.”

Opponents depicted the toll as a shakedown of suburban and suburban drivers from less upscale parts of New York with few good options other than cars to get anywhere on time, and complained that seniors and the working class would face the worst consequences . However, supporters pointed out that this was almost the case 56% of households in the five boroughs do not own a car, and said that if anyone can afford to pay more for public transportation, it is those who have the income to register, insure, a car in New York City and to park.

The debate over the policy had been raging for nearly a decade by the time Hochul, who played no real role in passing the legislation to establish the program, began championing the fight against congestion pricing. Although there were no other American examples to point out, peer-reviewed research published Last year it looked at public opinion in the biggest jurisdictions to introduce congestion charging to date – including London, Stockholm, Singapore and Edinburgh – and found support grew after the policy came into effect.

“This program is difficult. It was controversial,” Slevin said. “But in terms of what is best for the greatest number of people, congestion charging is the solution because it delivers air quality benefits, reduces traffic benefits and improves public transport for the whole city.”

Once traffic on Manhattan streets decreases, air quality improves, and the cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority tangibly improves service, the extra costs for drivers would become as normal as the tolls Brooklynites pay to cross the Verrazzano Bridge to Staten Island to drive.

All Hochul had to do was cross the proverbial “political valley of death,” Komanoff said, referring to the period between the time a policy is adopted and the time its benefits become apparent, during which the program’s proponents are receptive. for attacks. Congestion charges in New York have had a particularly long trough. While the British and Swedish capitals waited just a few months to implement their programs, the New York government began supporting the policy seven years ago, when then-Gov. Andreas Cuomo called congestion charging “an idea whose time has come.”

Yet the policy persisted – until now. Technically, Hochul has chosen to “pause the program indefinitely.” However, if Donald Trump wins the presidency, the Republican is expected to roll back federal approvals for the New York congestion charge, potentially phasing out the policy permanently.

The governor’s office did not respond to emailed questions Wednesday.

“You want to believe that her staff and advisers urged her, ‘Steal yourself, Governor,’” Komanoff said. “We’ll be there in 25 days. And you give up? You’re turning your tail? There is no point.”