This is the best summary I could come up with:
Kathy Hochul abruptly halted a congestion pricing tolling program that promised to take thousands of cars a day off the streets of Midtown and Lower Manhattan while generating billions for critical repairs and improvements to the subways, buses and two commuter railroads.
“I’m trying to hold out a little bit of faith,” said Jarred Johnson, the executive director for TransitMatters, an advocacy group in Boston, where the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s budget deficit is expected to surpass $800 million over the next five years.
But in recent months, as New York forged ahead with congestion pricing, there were glimmers that it was once again back in the mix for many cities as traffic rebounded along with concerns over the health and environmental impacts of polluting vehicle emissions.
The bipartisan board of the San Diego Association of Governments last year rejected a proposal to put in place a “road user charge,” after fierce criticism driven primarily by Republicans who said drivers couldn’t afford to pay the fees.
The push for congestion pricing in New York and elsewhere has underscored the precarious finances of many transit systems, which are scrambling to find new revenue sources after steep ridership losses during the pandemic, said Donald F. Kettl, a former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and a columnist for Governing.
Paul P. Skoutelas, president and chief executive of the American Public Transportation Association, said that transit systems in this country had been historically underfunded by government, which has long prioritized roads and infrastructure for cars.
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