Cuomo flip-flops, supports NYC congestion pricing a year after opposing it

Mayoral hopeful Andrew Cuomo brazenly flipped his flip-flop on congestion pricing – after last year penning a Post op-ed walking back his past support for the scheme.

When Cuomo was asked by The New York Times in an interview Tuesday whether he supports congestion pricing now that it shows signs of success, the former governor gave a blunt response:

“Yes.”

The supportive stance contrasted with Cuomo’s op-ed urging leaders pump the brakes on the controversial plan – which he championed and approved as governor. He had said at the time that

imposing the toll on vehicles entering Manhattan south of 60th Street would drive people into an increasingly violent subway system.

The op-ed suggested an analysis on the effect of a $15 toll on the city’s post-pandemic recovery.

“The people of New York know this is not the time to implement congestion pricing, but where are their local leaders passing resolutions condemning the policy?” he said then.

But felony assaults in the subways are 19% percent higher so far this year compared to the same point in 2024, months after Cuomo penned his opinion piece, NYPD data shows.

Overall crime in the transit system is down 4.5% over the same span, according to the data.

Cuomo insisted during the Times interview that his opinion on congestion pricing has never wavered. 

“All I said was, let’s study this before we do it in this moment, to make sure people aren’t going to say, ‘you know what, another reason for me to stay home,’” he said.

But Cuomo’s apparent flip-flop-flip quickly drew outrage from Cuomo’s opponents, political insiders and even supporters of congestion pricing.

“He’ll say anything and everything to get elected,” Mayor Eric Adams said of Cuomo’s congestion pricing about-face.

Cuomo had muscled congestion pricing through the state Legislature in 2019, arguing at the time that only “very rich people” can afford the “luxury” to drive into Manhattan.

After Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 amid a sexual harassment scandal, he returned from the political wilderness in part by calling to pause congestion pricing.

He argued that New Yorkers financially hit by the COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t be expected to pay another charge, as well as be shunted into dangerous subways.

Curtis Sliwa, the presumptive Republican nominee for mayor, however, saw Cuomo’s latest about-face on congestion pricing as yet another craven political calculation.

 “Andrew Cuomo isn’t interested in governing, he’s already scheming for the national stage,” he said.

“He’s the king of flip flops, who stands for nothing, puts himself above everyone, and says whatever he thinks will help him get ahead.”

Democratic operative Ken Frydman said Cuomo won’t be the last politician to change his tune on congestion pricing.

“But now that he’s running for mayor of New York City instead of governor of New York State, he’s clearly appealing for votes from motorists in the five boroughs,” he said.

“Andrew Cuomo has no core principles, he’ll say whatever it takes to claw his way back into power,” the operative said. “He’s exactly why so many people have lost faith in politics: a

flip-flopping wannabe king who ran to the Hamptons when things got tough.”

Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for the pro-congestion pricing NYC Riders Alliance, argued Cuomo has a poor record as governor for mass transit.

“We need a mayor we can trust, not one who lies and falsifies history when it’s convenient for him,” Pearlstein said.

Cuomo told reporters just after he kicked off his campaign in March that “preliminary data” pointed to the early success of congestion pricing goals, but added he didn’t believe “all data

was in yet.”

His campaign officials maintained the ex-gov’s stance hasn’t changed.

“Governor Cuomo passed congestion pricing in 2019 and nearly two years ago – after being held up for years in Washington – asked the reasonable question about whether we were in the right

place economically in our post-pandemic recovery and whether or not drivers had enough confidence in the subways to ditch their cars, or were they just going to work remotely,” his

spokeswoman Esther Jensen said. “These were logical questions that many people were asking. As the governor said yesterday – the indicators are that the program is working.”