AMNY
July 25, 2024
BY BEN BRACHFELD
"Gov. Kathy Hochul’s indefinite pause on congestion pricing has officially been challenged in court, with transit riders, environmental advocates, and civic groups filing lawsuits Thursday requesting a judge order the immediate implementation of the stalled Manhattan tolling program.
The City Club of New York, a good government group, filed the first of Thursday’s cases along with Hell’s Kitchen residents Christine Berthet and Kathleen Treat, and accuses the governor of violating the 2019 state law ordering the MTA to implement a congestion pricing program to fund $16.5 billion of investments to modernize the transit system, plans that are now on ice indefinitely.
The plaintiffs in City Club v. Hochul assert that the governor has no authority via the underlying statute, the Traffic Mobility Act, to actually implement the program or choose its schedule, arguing the law grants that authority instead to the MTA. The MTA had intended to start the program on June 30 and had spent half a billion dollars on contracts for tolling infrastructure before the governor abruptly announced she would pause implementation, less than a month in advance..."
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