Unpopular New York Governor Kathy Hochul, with the endorsement of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), just added another strike against herself by imposing congestion pricing on New Yorkers in the Big Apple. It should be called “congestion price gouging” because that’s what it’s doing to the residents of New York City.

This ban takes effect in Manhattan below 60th Street between the hours of 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. For those who drive themselves, they are charged at least $9, and that’s with an E-ZPass. Without the E-ZPass, regular cars are charged $13.50. Granted, this is New York City, where most natives walk, bike, or use taxis, buses, or the subway to get where they need to go. Even so, they can’t avoid this drain on their bank account or even their personal safety. Lyft is charging more for its electric bike rentals, taxis are not exempt from the congestion relief toll, buses are raising their fares, and the subway is filled with psychotic individuals.

This “congestion relief” fee was supposed to generate revenue the MTA needs for capital projects. The MTA ostensibly doesn’t receive enough federal money. According to Janno Lieber, MTA’s chairman, “New York gets 45 percent of the mass transit riders in the United States, we get 17 percent of federal money.” New York government personnel are always griping about not getting enough federal money, so they find other ways to extract dollars from their fellow New Yorkers.

Not only are residents furious about this latest financial burden, but the toll has brought out the criminally minded to try their luck at thwarting the system. The toll enforcement only went into effect last Sunday, and almost 200 people have already been ticketed for offenses. According to the New York Post, “Cops said 82 people were issued summonses on Tuesday, and another 113 were doled out Wednesday between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m. Of the Tuesday tickets, 29 were for fraudulent or obscured plates and 52 of Wednesday’s, cops and sources said.”

Like all corporate taxes that are actually paid by consumers, businesses must pass on the pain. Funeral homes are having grieving families foot the bill to drive their loved one’s coffin to its final resting place because hearses aren’t exempt. Delivery companies are including a congestion toll surcharge to offset the costs of “Hochulflation.”

Mercifully, some businesses are trying to ease the burden, namely restaurants. Many have been offering $9 discounts to offset the burden of traveling to get to their place of business. As well as being altruistic, it’s also a marketing move. Their businesses are being hurt because the levy stifles the flow of customers to their restaurants.

New York would rather spend its money on exploring reparations for slavery or being a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants — also at the expense of New York’s most vulnerable like the poor and homeless.

Why are blue cities failing? Because they figure out ways to devastate their own people financially and economically by taxing them to penury and kneecapping businesses. It’s no wonder people are fleeing these places in droves.