Gov. Kathy Hochul put the brakes on the MTA’s plan to hike the price of the new Manhattan congestion toll by 25% on “gridlock alert” days after fierce backlash for the plan.

Hochul said Thursday that “under no circumstances” would she allow the extra charge on top of the $9 minimum toll set to kick in Jan. 5 for drivers headed into Manhattan’s business district.

“Hardworking New Yorkers deserve a break, which is why I fought to cut the congestion pricing toll by 40%,” Hochul said, referencing that the toll was originally set to be $15 before she tabled it – then resurrected it days after the November election.

“This will reduce traffic in Manhattan and fund long-overdue investments in public transit, while keeping costs lower for New Yorkers who drive into the city,” she added in a statement to The Post. “We have spoken to the MTA and made it clear: under no circumstances will I allow this discretionary 25% surcharge on gridlock days to be used.”

A source close to Hochul said the governor discussed the matter with MTA officials on Thursday, following The Post report on the surcharge, which was quietly slipped into a plan filed with the state.

The plan gives the MTA the authority to boost the minimum toll to $11.25 on some of the worst traffic days in the city.

The city Department of Transportation identified 20 days this year as “gridlock alerts” — when traffic is at its worst — 11 in December, four in November and five in September, when the United Nations General Assembly is in session.

Critics said Hochul’s opposition to the gridlock surcharge is too little, too late. The first-in-the-nation congestion toll going into effect after the New Year should be scrapped at any price, critics said.

“Kathy Hochul is the Grinch who stole Christmas,” said Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican weighing a run against Hochul in 2026.

“Her heart is clearly two sizes too small,” he added. “In 2026, New Yorkers can surge to the polls and end the misery once and for all.”

Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat also mulling a run for governor, said Hochul has mishandled congestion pricing from the start.

“The Governor’s implementation of congestion pricing has been incompetent (she was for it before she was against it before she was for it — all in the span of five months) and her messaging around it has been marked by gaslighting,” Torres said.

Still, Torres said he supports the congestion toll, absent an alternative.

But others like City Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) said Hochul shouldn’t just “backtrack on the gridlock price hike- she should backtrack on this whole thing.”

“Congestion pricing serves no one except for Kathy Hochul and her obsession with overtaxing the residents of the outer boroughs,” Ariola said. “It’s a disaster through and through.”

The authority to impose a gridlock surcharge was a case of the “cat got out of the bag a little too early, and it was embarrassing to the governor,” claimed Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (R-Queens).

“So now she has to do a little kabuki dance and pretend to take a hard line on toll increases,” Paladino said. “But she knows as well as anyone else that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and she [Hochul] fully supports it.”

The revelation that the MTA has the legal right to impose a higher gridlock surcharge shows “the true priorities of the elite ruling class,” said Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn).

“The MTA can continue to spend frivolously, and the middle class taxpayer will continue to subsidize it. Disgusting,” Vernikov said.

The congestion-pricing tolls is already scheduled to jump to $12 for most vehicles in 2028 and $15 in 2031 before it’s even rolled out.

Hochul and the MTA are playing beat the clock to impose the new toll before President-elect Donald Trump — a congestion pricing opponent — takes office and potentially tries to scuttle it. The Biden Administration signed off on the plan.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed to block congestion pricing, but judges thus far have refused to issue a preliminary injunction to prevent it.

New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a toll opponent who represents communities bordering the George Washington Bridge, was pleased that at least the gridlock surcharge was scrapped.

“New York thought they could sneak through another way to whack hardworking families with its Congestion Tax cash-grab but got caught with their hand in the tax jar again,” Gottheimer said.

“It’s time for the MTA to stop treating Jersey and New York drivers like their personal piggy bank. Thanks to the public outcry, we helped keep a lump of coal out of commuters stockings.”