Gov. Hochul played poker with the future of New York, expecting to draw the Harris card and instead getting stuck with the Trump card! All this to garner favor with suburban voters by stopping congestion pricing in its tracks, so that they’d vote the local Democratic nominees into the House and presidency. It was a colossal failure, and we are the ones footing the bill. Last year, I complained in these pages that I was concerned that the governor wasn’t fully behind the congestion pricing plan. I immediately got a call from her office saying I was way off-base, nothing could be further from the truth. That was reinforced in December when Hochul, at a congestion pricing rally I attended (and spoke at) came out forcefully and in cadence asking “Anybody sick and tired of gridlock in New York City? Anybody think we deserve better transit, especially those who live and work here? Anyone think that people with disabilities deserve to have more accessibility when they travel through this city? Anybody want cleaner air for our kids and for future generations? Well then you love congestion pricing, right?” The crowd ate it up. When it came my turn to speak, I didn’t want to rain on the parade, even though I’m a veteran of more than a half-century of various congestion pricing plans that were blocked by lawsuits, congressional actions and politics. But I did warn that I wasn’t breaking out the champagne just yet. I knew there would be obstacles, mainly lawsuits that could derail the plan. But, after hearing Hochul speak I wasn’t worried about her commitment. Boy was I wrong! I was in Cleveland on June 4 of this year, speaking before the American Public Transit Association (APTA) meeting. I had been invited to explain how New York got congestion pricing done. The APTA group made clear that if we can do it in New York then other cities would follow suit. I went to bed that night proud of my hometown. The following morning, I woke to numerous phone calls from media and colleagues telling me the plan had been “paused,” government speak for dead.  Despite all this I am not giving up on the governor. We already lost, forever, nearly a half-billion dollars in revenue had the system turned on June 30 as scheduled, not to mention another half-billion spent to design and build the infrastructure . The system has been collecting tons of data from license plate readers (LPRs) and E-ZPass tags. Collections can begin almost immediately. Remember we were just 25 days from implementation when Hochul canceled it in June. Hochul could direct the MTA to turn the system on ASAP. Time is running short. Had Hochul gotten the Harris card, she would have had time to craft a plan with a friendly administration. But Trump has made clear his disdain for the program saying in a post on Truth Social that he’d “TERMINATE Congestion Pricing in my FIRST WEEK back in Office!!” After Jan. 20, the likelihood of federal support is about the same as the Giants meeting the Jets in the 2025 Super Bowl. The urgency is even greater for the MTA knowing that while the Biden administration added $4 billion to the MTA’s capital plan in addition to federal formula assistance, the earlier Trump administration awarded just 2% of that amount, $80 million. The clock is winding down for Hochul and us. She has the following choices: turn the system on immediately at the federally approved toll rates $15 peak and $3.75 off-peak or tweak the plan a bit to stay within parameters that were studied in the Environmental Assessment — meaning perhaps a $9 peak charge. The latter would require immediate sign off from US DOT, which has not been known to be swift. It also will provide fuel for plaintiffs in multiple lawsuits claiming this “new plan” needs more study. So, the safest option is to turn on the system now at the approved rates. Governor, you asked us a year ago if we were tired of gridlock, dirty air, and inaccessible transit. We gave you a resounding YES! Since then, things have only worsened. NYC has been named the most gridlocked city on the planet by traffic data firm INRIX, emergency response “traveling in traffic” times have increased in every reported category and the incoming federal administration will undoubtedly short change transit. As Spike Lee would say, “Governor, do the right thing!” Schwartz is a former NYC traffic commissioner.