Wednesday marked exactly one month since congestion pricing started in New York City. It’s the nation’s first and only tolling plan of its kind and new numbers detail its impact. And despite initial opposition, a new poll suggests most NYC drivers want it to stick around. NBC New York’s Andrew Siff reports.
The U.S. Department of Transportation rescinded its approval of New York City's congestion pricing program on Wednesday in a letter to the state's governor.
The department, under President Donald Trump's administration, released a letter from Secretary Sean Duffy it said it sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul regarding its decision to "terminate" approval of the congestion pricing pricing program, which it had originally granted on Nov. 21 under the Biden administration.
Duffy said the congestion pricing program is beyond the scope of the approval for a "Value Pricing Pilot Program" authorized by Congress, in part, because it appears to be "driven primarily by the need to raise revenue for the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) system as opposed to the need to reduce congestion."
DOT boss Duffy said his department would work with New York state officials to "discuss the orderly cessation of toll operations under this terminated pilot project." It's unclear if the federal government succeeds in killing congestion pricing, when that would happen.
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MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said the agency is ready to fight the administration in federal court.
"Today, the MTA filed papers in federal court to ensure that the highly successful program – which has already dramatically reduced congestion, bringing reduced traffic and faster travel times, while increasing speeds for buses and emergency vehicles – will continue notwithstanding this baseless effort to snatch those benefits away from the millions of mass transit users, pedestrians and, especially, the drivers who come to the Manhattan Central Business District," Lieber said in a statement. "It’s mystifying that after four years and 4,000 pages of federally-supervised environmental review – and barely three months after giving final approval to the Congestion Relief Program – USDOT would seek to totally reverse course.”
Trump posted on Truth Social weighing on his Transportation Department's congestion pricing decision.
Trump Truth Social post on congestion pricing
"CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!" the president posted on his Truth Social account.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded with a "100" emoji from her official government account.
In what appeared to be a reaction to the president's post, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul posted a statement on social media saying in part, "We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king. The MTA has initiated legal proceedings in the Southern District of New York to preserve this critical program. We'll see you in court."
Hochul accused the president and his administration of attacking the state's sovereignty.
"“New York hasn’t labored under a king in over 250 years. And we sure as hell are not going to start now," Hochul said.
It's unclear when a federal court will weigh in, how long the process could take and if congestion pricing will be allowed to continue in the interim. But the governor's legal counsel and the head of MTA both said the tolls will stay on until a federal judge tells them otherwise.
A short time after the president's earlier post, the official White House account posted a mock up of a "TRUMP" magazine cover of the president wearing a crown in front of the New York City skyline. "LONG LIVE THE KING," read the headline.
"CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!"
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 19, 2025
–President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/IMr4tq0sMB
In response to one commenter replying to the post
"We don't bow down to the king, never have, never will," Hochul said in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
