It was 2007 when then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg rolled out his congestion pricing proposal, which was part of his PlaNYC environmental blueprint.

“Congestion wastes fuel, which fuels global warming,” he said in an Earth Day address. “And of course, it wastes time.”

Bloomberg’s plan to charge drivers $8 to enter Manhattan below 86th Street was not the first idea of its kind.

What You Need To Know

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul’s turnaround on congestion pricing fits a historical pattern of failures

  • Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan won support, but Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver declined to bring it to a vote in 2008

  • Mayor John Lindsay planned to ban cars from parts of Manhattan and later proposed bridge tolls; both plans were abandoned

More than 50 years ago, Mayor John Lindsay planned to ban cars from parts of Manhattan and, later, proposed tolls on the Harlem River and East River bridges.

Both plans were abandoned, as were proposals made under Mayor Ed Koch in the 1980s.

Bloomberg’s plan ran into stiff opposition, but also won support from business leaders and advocacy groups.

Bloomberg could point to London, where then-Mayor Ken Livingstone successfully implemented a congestion charge in 2003. He sat down for an interview with NY1 in 2018.

“It worked perfectly from the first moment,” he said. “I mean, nothing went wrong.”

But state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, facing resistance from his members, killed the plan in 2008 by declining to bring it to a vote.

“The conference has decided that they are not prepared to do congestion pricing,” he told reporters.

Other iterations of congestion pricing were later floated, but it was former Gov. Andrew Cuomo who truly revived the idea in 2017.

“I propose first what’s called congestion pricing,” he said.

With the ailing MTA in desperate need of funds and progressive Democrats ascendant in Albany, congestion pricing was passed in 2019.

Fast forward to 2024. After five years of delays, studies, hearings and lawsuits, the plan was weeks away from becoming reality when Gov. Kathy Hochul made her surprise announcement.

“I have come to the difficult decision that implementing the planned congestion pricing system risks too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers at this time,” she said in a video announcing her decision on June 5.

Yet again, the resistance to congestion pricing proved too strong. Democrats may have worried the toll plan would hurt them in the polls, but Livingstone told NY1 the London plan worked so well, his numbers soared.

“Politicians are very nervous about, you know, it might cost them votes,” he said. “But it boosted my vote.”