I’ve been meaning to get to this post on the future of congestion pricing and it looks like it’s now or never — especially for the plan itself. There’s every reason to believe that there’s no chance for the program once Trump takes office.

So, here goes: the MTA held a round table for local journalists in the Bronx last month (more later on my very fun bike ride home from the West Farms Bus Depot) and six of us small fries (well, I was the smallest) had a chance to ask questions of the MTA chair & CEO Janno Lieber, second from left, as well as Metro-North president Catherine Rinaldi, chief customer officer Shanifah Rieara, and NYC Transit president Demetrius Crichlow.

I had two questions cued up: the future of congestion pricing, which you will recall was cancelled by Gov. Hochul in the 11th hour; and if we could get a bus that runs up the Westside Highway from Chambers to 14th. Taking that first one here:

“This is a big issue,” said Lieber. “We spent half a billion dollars to put in all that infrastructure, including the complicated studies we did to get federal approval. That was supposed to be paid back, so now we are out that money.”

Yet Lieber said he remains hopeful and in fact all the above mentioned infrastructure — cameras, tolling software — is still in place, kind of frozen in amber. “The governor’s statement a few days ago suggested she is thinking about when and how,” he said on Oct. 25.

Though that was before Election Day. Now all the analysts are suggesting it’s *really* now or never, since Trump is likely to block it at the federal level. He tweeted back in August that he would “TERMINATE Congestion Pricing in my FIRST WEEK back in Office!!” (The caps and exclamation points are his.)

“Advocates for the plan that was set to generate billions of dollars for the MTA say the governor needs to act sooner than [the end of the year],” The City reported. “‘The worst-case scenario for congestion pricing has come true,’ Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA said Wednesday morning.”

Already a lot of capital plans the MTA had scheduled have been put off, including renovations for the drecky Chambers Street J/Z station.

“How do we now fill the hole?” Lieber said. “The governor was consistent that she would come up with the money. So we slowed down some projects and put them on the back burner to put forward the more safety-focused projects.”

The MTA needed the congestion pricing income to bond it into $15 billion of capital, funds needed especially after they skipped a fare increase in 2021 due to the pandemic. The MTA is planning a 4 percent increase in 2025.

“I remain hopeful but I have no assurances,” Lieber said. “Ambulances can’t get to hospitals. Plumbers and other tradesman are spending hours in traffic. We have horrible air quality issues at the tunnels. These are real issues.”

“And it’s not just us against them. It makes sense to create a system that doesn’t let people drive to New York for free.”