“We remain concerned about the plight of taxi drivers,” said Meera Joshi — the city’s Deputy Mayor for Operations and a newly minted MTA board member.

“I’d advocate for the state to reexamine the 2018 law that created the second congestion fee that’s on taxis as a pathway for possible relief, if necessary,” she said.

Midori Valdivia, another Adams appointee, had previously been a vocal supporter of a yellow cab exemption. “I’m really interested in how this will impact the taxi industry,” she said. “I am really interested in seeing the data.”

B’hairavi Desai, head of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, was removed from the meeting along with five taxi drivers after interrupting the vote with chants of “Exempt the yellow cabs!”

The MTA’s approval of the tolling structure sends the complete plan to federal regulators for a final nod, a process that is not expected to take more than a few weeks.

MTA officials plan to put the congestion pricing program into action in mid-June, pending the resolution of sets of legal challenges in federal court.

The office of N.J. Gov Phil Murphy has sued to stop the congestion pricing plan, arguing that it will cause pollution by changing regional traffic patterns. Oral arguments are set to begin in that case next month.

A consolidated docket of New York suits arguing the same is expected to be heard in May.

MTA officials say traffic patterns were exhaustively studied, and steps will be taken to mitigate pollution where truck traffic may increase.

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