With president-elect Donald Trump already saying he’d kill the MTA’s congestion pricing plan, Gov. Hochul stopped short Wednesday of saying she would work to get the plan back on track ahead of Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20.
“We always knew this election would be a toss-up — this is a scenario that we planned for starting last summer,” she said. “Before the end of the year, in a timley enough frame, we will have our announcements and a funding plan.”
Hochul called Wednesday on Trump to help fund some of the region’s major transit projects. His election comes as the MTA is seeking $68 billion in funding for capital projects in its 2025-29 capital budget.
The state agency is also looking to fill a $15 billion gap left by Hochul’s decision to pause the rollout of congestion pricing this summer.
That money — which included $3 billion in matching funds toward $2 billion in federal grants for Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway — has been up in the air since Hochul put the tolling plan on “indefinite pause” in June, though the governor has repeatedly said she is committed to funding the MTA.
Without the MTA’s matching contribution, the federal government could revoke its grant, effectively defunding expansion of the long-awaited line to East Harlem.
“[President Elect Trump] needs to support our ongoing efforts to support our transit,” Hochul told reporters Wednesday. “Support the Gateway Tunnel, Second Avenue Subway, and fund major critical infrastructure — particularly the MTA.”
Trump had been an outspoken critic of congestion pricing prior to Hochul’s pause, promising in May to “terminate” the plan his first week back in office.
The congestion toll, as approved by the feds and the MTA, would have charged motorists a base toll of $15 once a day to drive on the surface streets of Midtown and lower Manhattan. The plan included late-night discounts as well as discounts for those already paying tunnel tolls, and it included higher tolls for larger vehicles.
The plan was projected to raise some $1 billion a year in revenues, which would in turn fund the issuance of $15 billion in bonds to pay for MTA capital projects.
Hochul paused the program saying the toll was too high for New Yorkers.
Asked Wednesday if, in the face of Trump’s opposition, she would lift the pause and direct her State Department of Transportation to enact the plan ahead of the former president’s January inauguration, Hochul reiterated that a solution for the $15 billion funding gap was coming.
“At the time, the $15 was too much for everyday New Yorkers when affordability is top of mind for them,” Hochul said. “That does not mean I’m hostile to congestion pricing — to the contrary I simply said this was a pause. We know our timeframe better than anybody.”
“I spoke to the White House about this three days ago,” she added. “They understand our need to take affirmative steps to ensure that nothing compromises the MTA.”
Meanwhile, MTA chairman Janno Lieber said in a statement that he was optimistic.
“The MTA’s approach is businesslike, focused on running great service to move millions of people, because when New York does well the national economy does well,” Lieber said. “We will make the case in Washington, where there is a long history of bipartisanship on transportation issues — as we did during COVID, working alongside Sen. Schumer, Republicans, Democrats, and the first Trump administration to make sure transit was able to keep going.”
The first Trump administration, however, gave the MTA pennies on the dollar comparatively. President Trump’s first administration awarded roughly $77 million in discretionary grants to the MTA — the Biden administration awarded billions.
