CONGESTION PRICING IS REALITY: Our colleague Jeff Coltin was out on the streets in the wee hours Sunday to witness the first drivers being tolled for coming into Manhattan’s central business district. What comes across from his photo of the moments congestion pricing began — as a Tesla passes beneath a tolling gantry — is really how unremarkable it is. But, of course, the first-of-its-kind New York congestion pricing program is remarkable because it’s now a reality after decades of thinking, debating, waiting, legislating and planning, and despite intense opposition in the form of litigating and politicking. It’s physically there: 1,400 cameras, over 110 detection points, more than 800 signs and 400 lanes of traffic. So far, according to MTA head Janno Lieber, “it’s all gone smoothly.” It’s also fiscally there: The money from the tolls, paid by the minority of people who commute in private vehicles, will go to fund upgrades to the aging bus and subway system that moves the vast majority of people in and around New York City. Of course, there are still obstacles, as Nick Reisman and I report, including opposition from President-elect Donald Trump, the powerful New York City teachers union and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. But while foes threw everything they had against the tolling program before it began, and got New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to pause it for a few months, it’s much harder to stop something once it’s started. Before the tolling began, most people could have given a long list of things that could block the tolls from beginning. Now, though, the list of things that would realistically reverse them is much, much shorter. For instance, I haven’t attended every court hearing for all of the various lawsuits aiming to block congestion pricing, but in the hours of them I’ve listened to never has a judge said anything that suggests the program is fatally flawed. Murphy, who like Hochul is a Democrat, learned that the hard way on Friday, when a federal judge in New Jersey, considered perhaps the most sympathetic to arguments against the tolls, rejected New Jersey’s last-minute effort to block the program. That said, there is still a lot of legal maneuvering left to be done by committed foes. As for a boot coming in from Washington to crush the program, Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, said he doesn’t expect that’ll get very far. “They’ll try to figure out ways of undermining it in Congress, but I don’t think there are any,” he told me recently. Of course, there’s another caveat: Trump certainly could try and he’d have some strange bedfellows, like Murphy and a pair of New Jersey House Democrats who are running for governor this year and oppose the tolls. But there’s also a lot of other things that could end up being higher on everyone’s list of priorities come Inauguration Day. So what of the fallout? Whether voters ultimately embrace the program is expected to be a crucial factor in the political future of Hochul and her opponents heading into the 2026 elections. Right now, passions remain high. Yet there are regular toll increases on the New Jersey Turnpike and for using the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey bridges and tunnels. Outcry when they go up (like they just did!) is often just a whimper, unless it’s an ill-timed increase that comes out just before an election. Will congestion pricing come to resemble those existing tolls, or remain a uniquely divisive issue? It’ll probably take months or years to know. Similarly, Murphy may face a gyre of interest groups praising him for fighting the tolls while others scold him for turning down what Hochul called “very generous” settlement offers. If Murphy keeps losing in court, he’ll have rejected what sources familiar with the matter said was several hundred million dollars, though it’s unclear exactly what that could be spent on. It’ll also probably take some time to see if the tolling program does what it was supposed to do, which is two main things at once: decrease traffic, which improves air quality, and generate enough money to support billions in spending by the MTA. Stay tuned as 2025 begins. — Ry Rivard HAPPY MONDAY MORNING: Let us know if you have tips, story ideas or life advice. We're always here at mfrench@politico.com and rrivard@politico.com. And if you like this letter, please tell a friend and/or loved one to sign up. Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories. NYLCV PUSHES CLIMATE FUNDING PLANS: One of New York’s key environmental advocacy groups will prioritize two policies that seek to raise funds for climate action by raising fees on fossil fuel usage. The New York League of Conservation Voters wants lawmakers to act on “cap and invest” and a low-carbon fuel standard for the transportation sector as part of the group’s 2025 agenda. These aren’t new priorities for NYLCV. But lawmakers are likely to be asked by Gov. Kathy Hochul to formalize a spending plan for revenues from a cap-and-trade style program this session. Hochul is expected to include the charge on carbon emissions that will be passed on to consumers at the pump and through heating bills, cushioned by a rebate to residents, in her State of the State plans and budget. “A successful program must include guidelines about which programs can be funded with "cap and invest" along with labor standards for said projects, with at least 40 percent of funds invested in disadvantaged communities,” NYLCV’s agenda states. NYLCV President Julie Tighe has tagged New York’s “cap and invest” program as potentially the most significant climate policy in the U.S. in 2025. The low-carbon fuel standard hasn’t gotten any full-throated backing from Hochul and faces opposition from environmental justice advocates. Hochul directed her agencies to study the potential of that policy in her 2024 State of the State. No results or details of any such study have been publicly released. ICF, a consultant, is working with the state on the study, according to NYSERDA. Buildings are also again in the crosshairs of NYLCV and many other groups backing the NY HEAT Act, which would ultimately empower the Public Service Commission to end utility gas service to some homes in the long term. That measure and other policies will face aggressive pushback from the fossil fuel industry and business groups, who want a wholesale reckoning with the implementation of the state’s climate law. — Marie J. French Here’s what we’re watching this week: WEDNESDAY — Lawmakers return to Albany for the first day of the legislative session.
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