Advocates challenge Hochul over congestion pricing plan pause

(The Center Square) — Environmental and transit advocates are taking New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to court over her 11th-hour decision to put the brakes on the nation's first congestion pricing plan.

A pair of lawsuits filed in the state Supreme Court on Thursday allege that Hochul acted illegally by pausing the $15 tolls on vehicles entering Manhattan's business district. The new charges were projected to generate some $1 billion a year for public transit upgrades.

One lawsuit challenges Hochul's authority to single-handedly block implementation of the 2019 MTA Reform and Traffic Mobility Act, the law that calls for implementing the program.

Another suit claims Hochul's move to suspend congestion pricing violates a constitutional right to clean air and a healthy environment.

Betsy Plum, executive director of the Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy group that filed one of the lawsuits, said Hochul's "betrayal of public transit" left them with "no choice but to go to court."

"We’re filing today’s case because congestion pricing will be a win-win-win for all New Yorkers, with better transit, freer flowing traffic and the quality of the air we breathe," she said.

Environmental groups said the legal challenges are necessary to force Hochul to take aggressive steps to reduce tailpipe pollution and the impact of climate change.

"New York City suffers from the world’s worst traffic congestion, which further exacerbates transportation emissions — the city’s second largest source of emissions after buildings," Wayne Arden, vice chair of the NYC Sierra Club executive committee, said in a statement. "Our legal duty to address the enormity of the climate crisis requires restoration of the congestion pricing program without delay."

The lawsuits add to a growing list of legal challenges filed over the new program, including one by Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who has called the plan a "cash grab" for the New York City transit system.

Prior to Hochul's decision to halt the plan, a truckers association filed a lawsuit seeking to block the new tolls, arguing they would be "unfairly" charged as much as $36 per trip to enter the city.

A Hochul spokeswoman panned the lawsuits, alleging that they are largely being "filed by groups trying to weaponize the judicial system to score political points," but said the governor "remains focused on what matters: funding transit, reducing congestion, and protecting working New Yorkers."

In June, Hochul abruptly reversed course on congestion pricing, announcing that she directed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to "indefinitely" pause the program, which was set to go into effect on June 30.

Hochul said she still supports the program's "goals" to reduce traffic and pollution, but she said New Yorkers "are getting hammered on cost, and they, and the economic vitality of our city, must be protected."