Congestion pricing may be on an indefinite pause, but Gov. Kathy Hochul still showed her MTA “pride” on Sunday while marching in the Pride March in Manhattan – the same day the tolling program would have gone into effect.
The governor halted the plan earlier this month to the satisfaction of some commuters outside of Manhattan, and dismay of public transit advocates, who said the program would have helped to fund the MTA with billions of dollars each year.
The governor posted a clip to social media on Sunday, showing herself wearing the shirt with an MTA logo on a Pride flag heart. The image was met with snark from some transit advocates online.
“You have got to be kidding me with this MTA shirt. No one is fooled @GovKathyHochul – you betrayed the @MTA and all of us riders,” Co-Executive Director at OpenPlans Sara Lind said.
“She’s trolling New York City. The gall to wear an MTA shirt on today of all days. Just complete contempt for New Yorkers,” transit advocate and The War On Cars podcast co-host Doug Gordon said.
With tolling cameras already in place, the agency was slated to begin charging drivers a $15 dollar daytime fee to enter Manhattan below 60th Street starting June 30. The funds collected would have gone towards investments such as new subway cars, upgrades to aging track equipment and the extension of the Second Avenue subway.
But Hochul’s decision to suspend the program left the MTA with a colossal financial hole in its budget.
The governor defended her move on MSNBC earlier Sunday morning.
“I will say this as well: we have a system that’s 106 years old,” Hochul said. “We have made billions of dollars in investments — I’m continuing to announce even more. Nothing that was on the drawing books is going to be delayed, we’ll make sure it gets done.”
During a board meeting last week, the MTA reported the opposite. There, transit officials laid out $16.5 billion dollars of projects that’s now on hold due to Hochul’s move, including the extension of the Second Avenue subway into East Harlem.
On Sunday, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander issued another statement blasting Hochul’s decision, which he argued is illegal under the MTA Reform Act of 2019.
“Subway and bus riders are the bread and butter of our city’s working class and the whole region’s economy,” Lander said. “Today should have been the day they had confidence in investments for new signals, on-time trains, accessible stations, and expanded service. Instead, as a result of the Governor’s eleventh-hour, unlawful decision to indefinitely postpone the legally-mandated congestion pricing program, working New Yorkers will face preventable subway delays, worsening gridlock, air quality alerts, and even MTA service cuts.”
Earlier this month, the comptroller put together a coalition of legal experts led by Columbia Law Professor Michael Gerrard to explore all possible legal paths to fight Hochul’s decision.