Hochul sued by tran­sit and envi­ron­men­tal groups over Man­hat­tan con­ges­tion toll delay

Tran­sit and envi­ron­men­tal groups sued Gov. Kathy Hochul (D‑NY) for block­ing a plan to reduce traf­fic and fund the sub­way sys­tem with a new toll on Man­hat­tan dri­vers.
The groups argue that Hochul’s deci­sion to indef­i­nite­ly sus­pend this mea­sure vio­lat­ed state laws and the state con­sti­tu­tion.
The pro­gram, which was sched­uled to start on June 30, would have charged dri­vers enter­ing cen­tral Man­hat­tan a toll of around $15, with prices vary­ing on the vehi­cle type.
This fee was expect­ed to gen­er­ate approx­i­mate­ly $1 bil­lion annu­al­ly for tran­sit improve­ments in New York.

Traf­fic enters low­er Man­hat­tan after cross­ing the Brook­lyn Bridge, Thurs­day, Feb. 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

In their law­suit, the Rid­ers Alliance, the Sier­ra Club, and the New York City Envi­ron­men­tal Jus­tice Alliance argued that Hochul’s deci­sion vio­lat­ed New York­ers’ right to “clean air and water, and a health­ful envi­ron­ment.”
“The peo­ple of New York City deserve to breathe,” the law­suit states.
In a sep­a­rate law­suit, the City Club of New York argued that only the Tri­bor­ough Bridge and Tun­nel Author­i­ty has the pow­er to imple­ment con­ges­tion pric­ing and the gov­er­nor has no role in the deci­sion. …