New York's congestion toll on drivers could make a comeback before Trump's second term

abcnews.go.com:

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering ways to revive a program that would charge drivers a toll to enter parts of Manhattan

ALBANY, N.Y. — A $15 toll on vehicles entering the busiest parts of New York City could be revived, as the state's Democratic governor considers enacting the program before President-elect Donald Trump takes office and can block it.

In the days since Trump's victory, Gov. Kathy Hochul and her staff have been reaching out to state lawmakers to gauge support for resuscitating the plan — known as “congestion pricing” — with a lower price tag, according to two people familiar with the outreach. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were revealing private conversations.

Hochul halted the plan to ease gridlock and pump billions into mass transit just weeks before it was set to launch this summer. All the costly infrastructure such as license plate readers was already in place.

At the time, she said she worried it would cost motorists too much money, but it was also widely seen as a political move to help Democrats in closely watched congressional races in the city’s suburbs. The fee would come on top of the already hefty tolls to enter the city via some river crossings, and Republicans were expected to use it as a cudgel in an election heavily focused on cost-of-living issues.

Some of those Democrats ended up winning. But so did Trump, who has vowed to terminate congestion pricing once he returns to the Oval Office in less than two months.

Hochul long insisted the program would eventually reemerge, but previously offered no clear plan for that — or to replace the billions of dollars in was supposed to generate to help New York City's ailing public transit