House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Monday called Gov. Kathy Hochul’s pause of congestion pricing a “reasonable thing to do at this moment,” doubling down on his support of a decision that blew a $15 billion hole in the MTA’s construction budget.
Jeffries made those comments at a news conference in Brooklyn that marked the groundbreaking of a $57 million project to add elevators to the Classon Avenue station on the G line. The event came five weeks after MTA officials said Hochul’s freeze on congestion pricing forced them to halt work to add elevators at 23 other subway stations, including one in Midtown where a 22-year-old mother died five years ago carrying her baby and stroller down the stairs.
Jeffries, who represents parts of Brooklyn in Congress, argued that Hochul did the right thing in pausing the program, which was previously scheduled to begin tolling drivers in Manhattan south of 60th Street on June 30.
“I think that Gov. Hochul was very clear that she had cost-of-living concerns in terms of congestion pricing that should be evaluated,” he said. “I stayed neutral throughout the entire process, but I’ve supported the pause as a reasonable thing to do at this moment.”
Hours after Hochul announced her halt on the program on June 5, Jeffries’ office issued a statement saying he approved of a “temporary pause of limited duration to better understand the financial impact [of congestion pricing] on working-class New Yorkers.”
Congestion pricing tolls were approved through a state law passed in 2019, which requires revenue from the program to finance $15 billion in transit upgrades. Jeffries said he was working to secure more federal funding for the MTA but didn’t specify if that effort would replace the congestion pricing money.
The congressmember also noted that the Classon Avenue elevator project was one of 13 MTA station improvements primarily funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that Congress passed in 2021.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates the commitment of MTA and federal leaders to support New York’s transit system,” Danny Pearlstein, spokesperson for the advocacy group Riders Alliance, said in a statement. “Gov. Hochul, who controls the system, must now regain the trust of millions of New Yorkers who depend on public transit by starting congestion pricing.”
After announcing her 11th-hour pause of the program, Hochul said her decision was motivated by speaking with “ordinary” New Yorkers, including at Midtown diners, who were concerned about the cost of the toll. She has also claimed that the program would lead to increases in the “cost of a piece of pizza.”
Had it gone into effect as planned, congestion pricing would have charged drivers a daily base fee of $15 to enter the Manhattan congestion zone.
Hochul’s decision to halt the tolls has been criticized by transit advocates as a political move intended to help Democrats in competitive House of Representatives races in New York City suburbs. But she and Jeffries have both denied that the pause was related to Democrats’ efforts to win seats in Congress.
“We did not discuss the impact adversely on the House of Representatives in connection with congestion pricing,” Jeffries said on Monday.