Candidates both declared and interested in challenging Mayor Eric Adams are largely in support of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s new congestion pricing proposal.

But they said while they like what they hear, they will be keeping watch on the program’s progress to make sure the MTA is using the expected multi-billion dollars in taxpayer funds wisely.

“For New Yorkers, there’s a lot that can happen in a New York Minute — instead of having to wait on the subway platform,” Zohran Mamdani, a Queens Assemblyman and Democratic candidate for mayor, said.

Mandami and other mayoral candidates are supportive of the congestion pricing promised. They say they will hold Gov. Kathy Hochul accountable.

“As the mayor, I would use the bully pulpit — which some have described as the second largest bull pulpit in America - to make clear that I stand with working class New Yorkers and public transit as being something that needs to be world-class for a world-class city,” Mamdani said.

Mamdani told NY1 that increased bus service is key.

Both he and Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos say the MTA still needs to convince commuters that transit options are preferable to driving.

“She’s done the job of working with the MTA to front-load a more robust bus system, particularly in eastern Queens where people are going to feel the difference the most,” Ramos, a Democrat, said.

Ramos doesn’t want working class New Yorkers to bear additional costs if the MTA is unable to reach its $15 billion goal.

As a member of the state Legislature, she will play a primary role in deciding whether the authority gets additional funding.

“I want to draw a line at both a payroll tax and a sales tax, both being very regressive and not the way to make up for the funding that we’re losing out by bringing down the price to $9,” she added.

Ramos backs a new capital gains tax for wealthy earners.

City Comptroller Brad Lander says the change needs to be pitched as a working-class win, especially in the wake of the national election.

“This is such a huge part of what people were saying last Tuesday they’re pissed off at the cost of living going up and up and up and housing getting more expensive, and child care and food and energy and health care and their wages aren’t keeping up and they’re angry,” Lander said.

He says the program must get up and run by President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

“I hope that the Trump administration will then leave it in place and not try to come tear it down,” he added.

Former City Comptroller Scott Stringer is exploring a mayoral bid.

He argues, City Hall also has unique power to reduce congestion on city-run roads.

“The mayor’s got to look at every potential transit desert in the city and every neighborhood — whether it’s a Democratic neighborhood, Republican neighborhood, liberal, conservative,” Stringer, who lives on the Upper West Side, said.

He says the spotlight should not shine solely on Manhattan.

“Rush hour has changed. People are now commuting from Queens to Brooklyn, Brooklyn to Queens — it’s no longer a Manhattan-centric economy and are we providing the transportation infrastructure to get workers beyond Manhattan throughout the boroughs?” Stringer added.

Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, a Democrat also exploring a run, says although the program is unpopular now, New Yorkers will soon embrace it.

“A lot of the things that we have rolled out in the past have been unpopular when they begun and people had strong responses to it but when we saw the benefit we then changed and said, ‘This makes sense,’” Myrie told NY1.

He says he is sick of polluted air that negatively affects residents.

“I’m someone that grew up in the city, lifelong asthmatic, had traffic going on Flatbush Avenue that did not help that and so we experience all throughout the city, having a robust public transportation system is good most importantly for New Yorkers, for residents. But it’s also good for tourism. It’s good for business!” he said.

If approved by the federal government, congestion pricing is slated to begin Jan. 5, 2025.