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Catch 22

Posted on February 27, 2025

Trump White House Gives New York Less Than a Month to Shut Down Congestion Pricing

The federal Department of Transportation (DOT) has ordered New York State to stop in 22 days (or no later than March 21) the congestion pricing program that was launched on January 5. In a letter from Gloria M. Shepherd, the executive director of the Federal Highway Administration, the federal DOT orders that the New York State Department of Transportation “terminate operations of this pilot project in an orderly manner… effective on March 21, 2025. Accordingly, NYSDOT and its project sponsors must cease the collection of tolls on Federal-aid highways in the [central business district tolling program] area by March 21, 2025.” New York officials have pledged to defy this order, and are now litigating in federal court to prevent Washington from enforcing it.

Yesterday (Wednesday, February 26), Governor Kathy Hochul appeared at a board meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the agency that oversees the program and is the intended recipient of funds raised by tolling vehicles $9 for driving south of 60th Street in Manhattan. Ms. Hochul said, “we’re not done. We are in court. ‘Orderly cessation’ was the phrase that came in the letter to us. I will propose something in the alternative: orderly resistance. We will keep standing up for New Yorkers, reducing traffic. Air quality is going to continue improving.”

“The success of congestion pricing is real, it is genuine, it is extraordinary,” the Governor said. “I know there’s a lot of power in that Oval Office, but I’ll put that power up against the power of six million pissed off commuters in New York City right there alone.”

Local opponents of the program weighed in with support for the Trump Administration’s decision. Former New York City Council member (and New York State Supreme Court Judge) Kathryn Freed, who is a leader of a Lower Manhattan grassroots organization, the Open Park Row Now Coalition, said, “we have opposed congestion pricing from day one, recognizing the disproportionate harm it would cause to small businesses and working-class New Yorkers. This decision is a victory for common sense and for all those who rely on vehicle access to the city to support their livelihoods.”

Chinatown community leader Jan Lee said, “congestion pricing was always an unfair tax on New Yorkers, particularly small business owners and middle-class workers. We saw the direct impact in just a few months – fewer customers, rising costs, and increased economic strain. Now, we can begin revitalizing business in Chinatown and beyond.” He added, “the Open Park Row Now Coalition urges Governor Hochul and New York lawmakers to respect the federal government’s determination and abandon any further attempts to resurrect the tolling program.”

The consent of the federal government to continue with congestion pricing (even though it is a state and local program) is legally necessary to satisfy statutory and regulatory requirements. These include the restriction that tolls cannot be placed on roads that are part of the interstate highway system without Washington’s approval, along with a similar caveat for local roads that were built or are maintained with federal funds.

1 thought on “Catch 22”

  1. Andre, Battery Park City resident says:
    March 1, 2025 at 5:36 pm

    Do local opponents of the congestion pricing know that majority of newyorkers do not drive and do not own a car? This narrative that small businesses will be hurt is nonsense – people who walk, taking subway and riding bikes are customers of the local businesses too. I ride a bicycle everywhere in Manhattan, it is always faster because streets are clogged. Now traffic has eased and it is much nicer in the congestion zone, there are even reports of the fewer crashes in the zone (do they oppose it too?). Plus cleaner air, less noise, and faster busses. People who live below the 60 Street have so many options to move around, we don’t need to drive. If some people choose to drive then they need to pay for polluting the air. If they don’t want to pay, they have plenty alternatives.

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