"Jeff Wood: I also want to ask you about the organizing and the activism of it all, because I think that's a really interesting part of this that maybe gets skipped over when we have these discussions. We could talk about the 51 percent through the Holland Tunnel travel time savings and those types of things, which are great."
"Danny Pearlstein: Yeah. I mean it wasn't just Kathy Hochul, there were two governors who were lukewarm and insecure in their support for it. Andrew Cuomo had opposed it, then he embraced it, then it was passed. Then he didn't do much to push it forward. Kathy Hochul came in when the environmental review had just gotten underway at the federal level, and she embraced it, but then she backed off when she saw the polling on affordability."
New York City implemented congestion pricing, achieving measurable traffic improvements such as reported 51 percent travel time savings through the Holland Tunnel. The policy's passage and launch required prolonged advocacy and organizing from groups like Riders Alliance to mobilize public support and maintain momentum. Political leadership shifted; Andrew Cuomo moved from opposition to acceptance but then provided limited follow-through, while Kathy Hochul endorsed the program during federal environmental review but later softened support after affordability polling. Federal involvement and regional pushback, including objections from New Jersey and actions by U.S. DOT, complicated implementation timelines and public messaging.
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