The Cost of Suspending Congestion Pricing

Good morning. It’s Thursday. Today we’ll take another look at the consequences of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to put congestion pricing on an indefinite hold. We’ll also look at what Tuesday’s primaries mean for progressive Democrats after the defeat of Representative Jamaal Bowman, a member of the “squad” in the House.

Credit…Karsten Moran for The New York Times

There is a price for not going ahead with congestion pricing.

That became clear on Wednesday through a report from the watchdog group Reinvent Albany and in presentations at the first meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board since Gov. Kathy Hochul put the congestion pricing plan, which had been long anticipated, on an indefinite hold.

The presentations, by agency staff members, outlined cuts that totaled $16.5 billion. The agency would defer plans to make more stations accessible to passengers with disabilities, to upgrade aging signal systems and to begin pushing the Second Avenue subway north toward 125th Street.

Hochul issued a statement during the board meeting that argued that the M.T.A. could rein in its costs to supplement its budget. She said that “temporary adjustments” to the transit system’s plans did not signal the end of those projects.

“There is no reason for New Yorkers to be concerned that any planned projects will not be delivered,” Hochul said in the statement.