Gov. Kathy Hochul had mixed messages about the fate of both congestion pricing and the MTA’s capital program on Monday.

“I said I’m committed to congestion pricing,” Hochul said at a news briefing in the Bronx.

“I understand the level of concern at this time,” she added minutes later. “But I, as the governor of the state of New York, I am committed to continuing those projects with alternative funding.”

Those projects include ADA accessible stations, re-signaling the A and C train in Brooklyn, buying more R211 subway cars and more electric buses. MTA CEO and Chairman Janno Lieber had a different message hours later.

“We have to do an intensive review about the best way to re-prioritize and shrink the current 2020 to 2024 MTA capital program,” Lieber said.

What You Need To Know

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul had mixed messages about the fate of both congestion pricing and the MTA’s capital program

  • Projects include ADA accessible stations, re-signaling the A and C train in Brooklyn, buying more R211 subway cars and more electric buses

  • MTA CEO and Chairman Janno Lieber had a different message hours later

  • Lieber is concerned about losing the gains made since the 1970s and even 2017’s summer of hell when subways on-time performance was below 65%

Lieber is concerned about losing the gains made since the 1970s and even 2017’s summer of hell when subways on-time performance was below 65%. Today it’s above 80%.

“We have to prioritize the state of good repair work that assures the safety of our transit system,” he said. “This is the basic stuff to make sure that this system doesn’t fall apart.”

And hold on to the extra gains they’ve made, like increased service.

“The priority is throughout that we’re going to fight like hell to make sure we don’t have to reduce service,” he added.

Hochul earlier, however, repeated she is working with Lieber.

“I spoke to Janno Lieber yesterday, and he is been working hard with me, particularly since this announcement,” she said. “So, we support, I’m joined at the hip with the MTA on all of their projects going forward.”

But it was clear Lieber was not on the same page as the governor, and somewhat defiant.

NY1 asked Lieber if he thinks the governor gave him assurances on the congestion pricing pause, discussed a restart date or possible tweaks to the pricing scheme.

“I think you should address any questions about where do we go from here on congestion pricing to the governor’s office because clearly they’re the actor in that respect,” he told NY1. “I mean I’ll just say we at the MTA are not giving up on congestion pricing, not at all.”

Hochul said she will come up with solutions to curb congestion, but offered no alternatives for both that or funding the MTA. She suggested calling the legislature back to Albany to find new funding sources, but when they last left, it seemed many lawmakers did not want to be complicit in her decision to pause the program.