Racing to get ahead of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s return to the White House, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York on Thursday announced the resurrection of a congestion pricing program that will toll drivers who enter the busiest parts of Manhattan.
Ms. Hochul, who had canceled the tolling plan abruptly in June just weeks before it was scheduled to begin, said that she would salvage it by reducing rates as she sought to appease critics who said the fees were too high.
The retooled congestion pricing plan would charge the drivers of most passenger cars $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours, down from the previously approved rate of $15. The program would begin in January, she added.
Mr. Trump has vowed to kill congestion pricing, and Ms. Hochul is now trying to push the plan through before he takes office in January. The revised plan is expected to go before the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority next week for approval.
But questions remain about whether the lower fee will be sufficient to achieve one of the program’s primary goals: helping raise $15 billion for the M.T.A. to pay for critical repairs and upgrades to New York’s public transit system.
On Thursday, Ms. Hochul announced a 40 percent reduction across the board to the previously approved tolling structure. That means that along with the lower $9 toll during peak hours, cars would pay an off-peak rate of $2.25 while other types of vehicles would receive similar discounts.
Off-peak hours are from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on weekdays and from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. on weekends.
A broad coalition of transportation planners and civic leaders had spent at least four years designing a complex formula to decide on the initial tolling structure. On Thursday, Ms. Hochul did not immediately explain how she had calculated her adjustments.
Ms. Hochul had given few public hints that she was concerned about the added cost of the tolls when she suspended the program before its long-awaited debut. Officials at the M.T.A. had already spent an estimated $1 billion and installed much of the equipment needed to put the program in place when it was halted.
The election of Mr. Trump appeared to spur the governor’s sudden move to revive congestion pricing. Ms. Hochul has also faced legal challenges to her decision to halt the plan, as well as intensifying criticism from transportation advocates.
New York officials would still need to seek final federal approval for the program to get underway. They have been working closely with the Biden administration on that approval.
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation said on Thursday that New York officials had notified the department of the updated plan with a toll of $9. The Federal Highway Administration, an agency within that department, “is working expeditiously to finalize the needed steps to complete the agreement,” he added.
If the program does not receive final federal approval before Mr. Trump is inaugurated, he could block it permanently.
Supporters of the plan, some of whom have fought for decades to institute congestion pricing, applauded Ms. Hochul’s decision and urged her to move quickly to get the program up and running before the inauguration.
At the same time, critics prepared to resume their legal efforts to block the plan. A total of nine lawsuits over congestion pricing have been filed by opponents in recent years.
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