Rather than alienate suburban commuters in an election year, New York’s governor in June put the brakes on a plan to launch America’s first congestion pricing toll system to discourage people from driving in the most congested areas of Manhattan.

At the time, Gov. Kathy Hochul said it was not the right time to impose a $15 toll on commuters and businesses.

Now, as President-elect Donald Trump heads to the White House, the Democrat is hastily reviving the toll plan — hoping to get it in place before the Republican follows through on his promise to do so. kill for good during his first week in office.

Hochul’s new plan, unveiled Thursday, calls for a $9 fee on most vehicles, which would help fund the city’s cash-strapped transit system but at a lower price for drivers . It is scheduled to begin on January 5.

“I’m proud to announce that we’ve found a way to fund the MTA, reduce traffic congestion and keep millions of dollars in the pockets of our commuters,” Hochul said from his downtown office.

The fee would be imposed on most vehicles traveling in Manhattan neighborhoods south of 60th Street and collected through license plate readers. This would come on top of the often high tolls drivers pay to enter the island borough via some bridges and tunnels.

Last spring, Hochul said she was concerned that imposing tolls could hinder New York City’s continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. But she also promised that her abrupt about-face on the toll would not be permanent and that she would present a new plan.

Transit and environmental advocates, who howled when Hochul “suspended” the plan weeks before its June launch, welcomed Thursday’s return.

Congestion pricing aims to reduce traffic and pollution while encouraging the use of public transport. It has long existed in other cities around the world, including London, Stockholm, Milan and Singapore, but not in the United States.

“Congestion pricing can’t come soon enough,” said Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for Riders Alliance, which was among the local groups that sued Hochul over its decision to stop the program. “Once the first tolls have been collected, we will finally breathe easier. »

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to revive the controversial congestion pricing plan as soon as Thursday, with some reports saying it will come with a 40% cut across the board and a lower base rate for cars, as well as trucks and buses. Checkey Beckford of NBC New York reports.

But the plan could face obstacles in Washington, with Republicans poised to take control of the White House and Congress in January.

The president-elect, whose Trump Tower penthouse would be in the congestion charging zone, said Thursday that he “strongly” disagreed with Hochul’s decision to revive the congestion charging, calling it a “tax the most regressive known to women.

“This will put New York City at a disadvantage to competing cities and states, and businesses will flee,” he said in a statement. It will be virtually impossible for New York City to come back as long as the congestion tax is in effect.

It’s unclear how Hochul’s revised plan would address the loss of transit revenue from the reduced toll amount. The original fee system was expected to generate up to $1 billion a year for subways, buses and commuter rail systems.

Officials insisted Thursday that the money raised from the fee cuts would still be enough to allow the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to continue its repair and upgrade projects — but it could take longer to generate the revenue needed to reimburse costs, they said. .

The toll can still be increased, although Hochul said she doesn’t want to do that for at least three years.

It also remains unclear how politically costly reviving the plan might be for Hochul among people who travel by car.

Lawmakers representing some of the city’s suburbs have criticized the return of the toll.

“Governor Hochul’s congestion charge system is nothing more than a massive new tax on working families, daily commuters, students, and local residents who simply want to travel within the city they call home,” said U.S. Rep. Michael Lawler, a Republican who represents suburban communities just north of the city.

The blowback was bipartisan, with Democratic lawmakers also criticizing the plan.

Congestion pricing has Long Island residents concerned about the possible economic effects the revised congestion toll would have on their wallets and businesses. NBC New York’s Greg Cergol reports.

“In times of inflation, we will not stand idly by as New York once again attempts to hit Jersey families with a new $9 tax. This will cost hard-working commuters thousands of dollars and is completely absurd,” said Josh, the Democratic representative from New Jersey. Gottheimer.

Gov. Phil Murphy, another Democrat, also pledged to fight the toll, saying Americans demonstrated on Election Day that they were under pressure.

“New Jersey was never meaningfully consulted on the design of this plan, either in its initial version or in the version announced today. Perhaps that’s because this effort was always simply a way to take money out of the pockets of New Jersey residents to bail out the MTA from a mountain of debt,” Murphy wrote. “I have always expressed openness to a form of congestion pricing that meaningfully protects the environment and does not impose unfair burdens on New Jersey’s hardworking commuters. Today’s plan fails unfortunately to this test I urge Governor Hochul to reconsider the plan.

MTA policy and external relations chief John McCarthy dismissed Murphy’s criticism of the plan, saying the governor should instead focus on improving NJ Transit.

“It’s hard to follow the advice of Governor Murphy, who oversaw the complete collapse of his state’s public transportation system. New Jersey has been involved in the process of reducing traffic congestion from the beginning, even before sue New York,” McCarthy said in a statement. “If Governor Murphy wants to play with mass transit, he should start by keeping the trains running.”

On Long Island, Democratic Rep.-elect Laura Gillen and Republican Nick LaLota have both pledged to end the project. LaLota went further, saying he would push to maintain or limit future federal funding for the MTA until congestion pricing is removed.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she may revive the controversial congestion pricing plan she suspended in June, just weeks before it took effect. But Hochul noted that a few key changes needed to be made to the plan, including possibly in terms of price. Andrew Siff of NBC New York reports.

Residents and workers in midtown Manhattan also had reason to complain Thursday.

Miles Toussant, a 63-year-old chef who lives downtown, said he was concerned about the rising cost of visiting his 88-year-old mother in Brooklyn.

He checks in with her about three times a week and prefers to take Ubers or taxis, but he also knows that riders in the toll zone will be charged a fee per ride under the plan.

“There are also people who are still going to have to come to Manhattan, so how much is this really going to change the congestion?,” Toussant said. “And then what will this money be used for?”

Ed Saleh, whose family runs a produce stand across the street from where the governor made his announcement, said the new fees would be on top of the $45 a day in tolls their company already pays to drive their big truck to downtown from New Jersey.

“If this comes into play, we have no choice: We still have to be there,” he said, noting that trucks will pay higher fees under the plan. “But it’s just not fair. We bring a lot to New York.

Saleh said he also worries about the impact on foot traffic to their corner business.

“The tolls alone are already crazy. Adding another $9 to that is definitely going to hurt a lot of people,” he said. “The economy is not doing very well. People don’t spend. Imposing additional fees will only make people’s lives a little more difficult.”