NYC transit advocates, officials consider legal action to resume congestion pricing

A coalition of legal experts and transit advocates is considering legal action to reinstate congestion pricing. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander announced Wednesday that he plans to explore “all legal avenues” to revive the program, which Gov. Kathy Hochul shut down last week, less than a month before it was set to begin. foreseen. The coalition is made up of legal professionals and potential plaintiffs, including Central Business District residents and business owners, MTA board members, and New Yorkers with disabilities.

Congestion pricing, originally scheduled for June 30, would have charged drivers $15 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street in an effort to reduce traffic, make streets safer and clean the air, while bringing in $1 billion a year for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. for system repairs and infrastructure projects. For many years, transit and environmental activists have lobbied for the policy, which would have been the first of its kind in the country.

Last week, Hochul said “circumstances have changed” since the program was approved in 2019, citing the economic impacts of the pandemic, and announced she would stop the program “indefinitely.” State lawmakers rejected Hochul’s proposal to raise a mobility tax on business wages, and the legislative session ended without replacing the $1 billion in annual revenue expected from congestion pricing.

In response, the MTA announced it would scale back and revamp its 2020-2024 capital program, which funds new trains and buses, accessibility improvements and signal upgrade projects.

Lander on Wednesday called the governor’s decision to suspend the program “potentially illegal.”

“This sudden and potentially illegal reversal has harmed multitudes of New Yorkers, who are entitled to what has long been promised to all of New York: a world-class transit system that works for everyone,” a statement said. Lander said in a statement.

“This broad coalition of legal experts and potential plaintiffs will act to ensure congestion pricing is implemented quickly and inevitably, even if it means taking their case to court.” We are here to put our shared future back on track.

Lander and his team plan to file lawsuits based on several laws, including the 2019 law passed by the Legislature and signed by former Governor Andrew Cuomo, which states that the MTA “shall” implement the congestion pricing. Others include the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which mandates that the governor and state agencies are required to work to achieve state-wide greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. the state, and the Green Amendment of 2021, which grants all residents the right to clean air, clean water and a clean environment.

Lander also said that delaying congestion pricing delays transit accessibility improvements and cited the 2022 agreement with disability advocates in which the MTA agreed to make nearly all stations accessible to people with disabilities by 2055.

“Governor Hochul does not have the authority to postpone the congestion pricing program indefinitely,” said Michael B. Gerrard, a law professor at Columbia Law School. “The 2019 law gives the MTA a mandatory duty to implement congestion pricing. It is illegal for the governor to unilaterally rescind it.

Gerrard told Politico he plans to file at least one complaint this month.

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