Hochul: Congestion pricing is 'working'

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) says she took her defense of a controversial traffic congestion program directly to President Trump during a White House meeting last week, saying she presented information to show new tolls into New York City are "working."

"I don't want to get into private conversations, but I spent an enormous amount of my time in there talking about how congestion pricing is working," Hochul told MSNBC host Al Sharpton during an appearance on "PoliticsNation" on Sunday. "It really is working."

Hochul met with Trump on Friday to discuss his push for pipeline access through New York state, but she said talk turned to Trump's push against the commuter tax aimed at curbing New York City traffic.

The White House didn't immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.

Trump last month declared the surge pricing project in his native New York, which was approved under the Biden administration, "dead," and the federal government is on track to begin rolling it back by the end of the week.

"I think a lot of people who are naysayers who said, 'This is going to crush the city. Nobody's going to come in,' they were wrong, and I wanted him to see the data that I had — more recent numbers," Hochul told MSNBC of the pair's Friday meeting.

"Broadway is up ... Retail sales are up $900 million. We have more people on the streets, walking around going into stores, and a 10 percent increase in riders on the subway."

The congestion pricing program, which began in January, was crafted to ease New York City traffic and generate new funds for infrastructure. Motorists are charged $9 when entering certain parts of the city at the busiest times of the day.

"All the fears that were out there are absolutely unfounded, and people are getting to the City so much faster," Hochul said Sunday. "So I needed to help walk [Trump] through what I thought were the real reasons why we need to keep this and not have it shut down."

Support for the new tolls has grown since going into effect Jan. 5, according to recent polls.

City and state officials have praised it, but the program got off to a rocky start over concerns about the potential burden on commuters. It remains in place as it is challenged in court, but the Department of Transportation has set a March 21 deadline to stop collecting tolls for the program that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called "a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners."

“Every American should be able to access New York City regardless of their economic means. It shouldn’t be reserved for an elite few," Duffy said in a February statement.

Hochul is seeking reelection next year. As the state's lieutenant governor, she ascended to the governor’s office in 2021 after the resignation of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), following accusations of sexual harassment. Hochul, New York’s first female governor, won her first full gubernatorial term in 2022.

Cuomo, meanwhile, is now running to become mayor of New York City. As governor, he set the congestion pricing plan into motion, when he signed the law in 2019. He has since walked back his support.