It took five years from state lawmakers voting congestion pricing into law, and for the MTA to set the toll price and give its final approval.

Now, comes the hard part — selling it to voters.

“Raising taxes any time is a challenge and takes political courage,” Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategies and CEO of Tusk Strategies, said.

What You Need To Know

  • Congestion pricing is set to start in June, during campaigns for the state Legislature and U.S. House districts

  • Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo got congestion pricing passed in 2019, but has since called for delaying its implementation

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul has embraced congestion pricing as a way to modernize the transit system, cut down on Manhattan traffc

Gov. Kathy Hochul inherited congestion pricing and has embraced it as a way to pay for modernizing mass transit, bust gridlock and improve air quality.

She has until 2026 to make her case, if she asks voters for another term.

“It’s really, really hard because some of the folks who are the most upset about it are folks who are in the suburbs and in other places and they’re the most problematic and in some ways needed for the governor,” Coffey said.

Hard, but not impossible.

“You hope that they’ll see the long-term benefits in New York and that New York gets better and that they view her that way,” Coffey said.

But that case already being undermined by none other than Andrew Cuomo, once a champion of congestion pricing when he was governor, who now says its time has passed. He wrote an op-ed in the New York Post earlier this month that said, “What impact will an additional $15 entry surcharge have on New York City’s recovery in this moment — when the migrant crisis, crime, homelessness, quality of life and taxes are all pressing problems?”

Meanwhile, Mayor Adams’ support is often tempered with concerns about how it can unfair to some New Yorkers, saying earlier this month that “We need to make sure it doesn’t overtax every day, working class New Yorkers.”

He also had suggested that congestion pricing could harm the city’s economy.

“There are experts out there that will make a determination if something is implemented, it could get in the way of slowing down our economic recovery, and I don’t want to anything to slow down our economic recovery,” he said.

Congestion pricing is also expected to take effect this year in the heat of campaign season for state legislative seats and in New York’s suburban House districts.

“I think you’re gonna see some single issue congestion pricing voters,” Republican pollster Jim McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said the opposition cuts across partisanship and ideology.

“It’s not just Republican voters that oppose this,” McLaughlin said. “I’ve seen surveys where the independents, majorities of Democrats, quite honestly, a plurality of liberals think this is a really bad idea.”