Nearly three months after what was to be the start of congestion pricing, lawyers will head to court Friday in hopes of upending Gov. Kathy Hochul’s pause on the vehicle-tolling program.
Oral arguments will be heard in Manhattan Supreme Court in a pair of lawsuits against the governor that seek to put the Central Business District Tolling Program back on track. Written into law in 2019 by Albany legislators, the first-in-the-nation congestion pricing plan was derailed by Hochul just three weeks before its June 30 launch.
The program had long been billed as a way to raise billions of dollars for public transportation while potentially cutting vehicle traffic and emissions in Manhattan below 60th Street.
In July, environmental and transit advocates, along with a civic association, filed two suits against the governor for her abrupt U-turn. The organizations accused Hochul of a “financially disastrous” about-face on the initiative that she’d previously championed.
Dror Ladin, an Earthjustice senior attorney for the environmental and transit advocates, said the city is likely to face increased greenhouse gasses and “continue down the really terrible path that we’ve been on” without the congestion pricing pause being overturned.
“It’s really, really critical that we get this right,” he told THE CITY on Thursday.
Hochul’s sudden shift blew a $16.5 billion hole in the MTA’s more than $50 billion capital program for 2020-2024, forcing the transit agency to defer long-planned improvements that include installing new elevators, replacing 1930s-era signals and buying more than 250 new electric buses.
“Riders never wanted to take our governor to court, but the law requires us to receive billions of dollars in transit improvements, as well as faster buses and cleaner air,” said Danny Pearlstein, policy director of Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy group. “We will use every tool in our toolbox to get what we are legally entitled to.”
Oral arguments in both lawsuits — one filed by the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, the Sierra Club, Riders Alliance and one by the City Club of New York —- are set to be made in front of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron at the same time starting at 10 a.m. Friday.
The suit filed by environmental and transit advocates charges Hochul with violating the state’s 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act aimed at reducing greenhouse, gas, emissions, along with the 2021 Green Amendment that guarantees a right to a clean environment in the state constitution.
The second suit, by City Club, accuses Hochul of violating the 2019 Traffic Mobility Act that mandated congestion pricing.
Changing Directions
Hochul’s about-face on congestion pricing came weeks after she had praised congestion pricing at a global gathering in Ireland, where she touted the “great success” of London, Milan, Stockholm and Singapore in implementing similar plans.
“It took a long time because people feared backlash from drivers set in their ways,” Hochul said, according to a transcript of her May 20 remarks at the Global Economic Summit.
Weeks later, she put the years-in-the-making tolling plan on an indefinite pause, citing the effects of tolls on working-class New Yorkers as “too much” while also pledging “all will be resolved at a future time.”
“Like the majority of New Yorkers, Governor Hochul believes this is not the right time to implement congestion pricing,” a spokesperson for the governor said in a statement, adding that she could not comment on a pending case.
Hochul has repeatedly committed to coming up with a “comprehensive approach” on how to pay for the MTA’s current and new five-year capital program, with agency officials repeatedly saying they “take her at her word.”
In August, she told Politico that a replacement for the paused program is set to be announced by the end of the year — and after elections.
“I will continue supporting the infrastructure projects that were contemplated to be funded by congestion pricing,” she told Bloomberg TV in July. “And those who say I will not, will soon see, I know what I’m talking about.”
In the meantime, protests against the pause have continued.
Several speakers at Wednesday’s MTA board meeting urged Hochul to activate a program that has already cost the transit at least half a billion dollars in tolling infrastructure, delayed critical upgrades and potentially slowed a legal settlement to add elevators in most subway stations.
“We were told that by 2055 New York City would have 95% of their stations accessible,” said Sharon McLennon-Wier, executive director for the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York. “This is what we signed, this is what we agreed to and we’re going to hold the MTA accountable for their settlement agreement with all the disability advocates.”
“Governor Hochul’s derailment of congestion pricing severely sabotages both the current capital plan and the next capital plan,” Rachael Fauss, senior policy advisor for Reinvent Albanym testified at the meeting.
Ladin, the Earthjustice lawyer, on Thursday expressed hope that congestion pricing will eventually get back on track.
“This was all ready to go on June 30,” he said. “Our understanding is that it’s effectively ready to go and just needs the governor to get out of the way.”
