How opponents are trying to stop congestion pricing
Congestion pricing opponents are pinning their hopes of repealing the new tolls on pending lawsuits, legislation, and the incoming White House administration, but haven’t laid out a quick way that President-elect Donald Trump could stop the program once he takes office on Monday.
Transportation experts and supporters of the program, meanwhile, are confident the Manhattan tolls are here to stay.
Despite plentiful opposition — including from much of Long Island’s population, according to a 2023 poll — New York’s first-in-the-nation congestion pricing program took effect on Jan. 5, charging most vehicles $9 for driving below 60th Street in Manhattan during peak hours. Having failed to prevent the tolls from taking effect, congestion pricing opponents, who argue the new tolls are overburdening working New Yorkers, have shifted their efforts to repealing the plan.
In a statement Thursday, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island) said “with the help of President Trump” she and other congestion pricing opponents in Congress “will continue to use every legislative and legal avenue at the federal level to reverse this disastrous cash grab brought to us by Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature.”
Among opponents’ efforts are:
Several pending federal and state lawsuits, including ones filed by the State of New Jersey, the Staten Island Borough President, and the Town of Hempstead, They make varied legal arguments, including that the MTA and Federal Highway Administration did not conduct a thorough environmental review, that the plan does not include sufficient mitigation measures for communities harmed by detoured truck traffic, that the plan should have gone before Congress for approval, and that the MTA did not adhere to state law requiring a 45-day “public review” period before enacting the tolls, Courts , [object Object], the tolls before they took effect, but could still order the plan to be halted pending further review, State and federal legislation, including a bill proposed by Sen, Jack Martins (R-Mineola) to repeal the state’s 2019 law creating New York’s congestion pricing program, and several bipartisan, [object Object], bills recently reintroduced in Congress this week, by House members from New York and New Jersey, They include the “The Anti-Congestion Tax Act,” which would prohibit U,S, Department of Transportation grant funding to the MTA if it doesn’t exempt motorists crossing into Manhattan from the new tolls, Appeals to Trump, who vowed in May to “terminate” the tolling plan if elected, During a visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Saturday, Republican House members from New York, including Reps, Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) and Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), , [object Object], to explore avenues to end the tolling plan, according to attendees of the meeting, Rep, Mike Lawler (R-Pearl River) in a post on X said Trump “reiterated his support for , ending congestion pricing,” Opponents have offered few specifics on how Trump could stop the plan, other than by putting financial pressure on Gov, Kathy Hochul and the MTA, Spokespersons for Trump did not respond to a request for comment,.
In November, the Federal Highway Administration gave final administrative approval to the congestion pricing plan, what MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber at the time called “the final bureaucratic hurdle.”
Lieber has expressed confidence that the plan will survive the various threats it faces, including from Trump.
“People just don’t routinely pull grant agreements or other agreements between the feds and states and localities,” Lieber said at a news conference at Grand Central Terminal on Jan. 5, the day the tolls took effect.
Lieber noted that Trump is from New York and said he understands “what traffic is doing to our city.”
“I’m hopeful that, although there has been some rhetoric on this, that we will continue to work with the federal government and get through the change in administration.”
The MTA has said the new tolls in the first week resulted in increases in travel speeds of 20-30% on some Manhattan streets, and of 30-40% at bridges and tunnels linking to Manhattan. Officials said Friday there was no new data to share. Other traffic analysts have said early results have been more mixed, with less of an obvious improvement in Manhattan.
Lisa Daglian, executive director of the MTA’s Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, which advocates for transit riders, noted that New York’s congestion pricing program is based on the federal government’s Value Pricing Pilot Program, which was adopted in 2001 by George W. Bush’s administration and includes other projects throughout the U.S. aimed at reducing car use.
The federal government striking down New York’s congestion pricing plan “would be an interesting precedent.”
“Does that mean you’re also going to repeal the other value pricing program projects that include tolled roads in Florida?” said Daglian, an advocate for congestion pricing who believes the various challenges will ultimately turn out to be a “nothingburger,” especially as New Yorkers come to appreciate the plan’s benefits.
Daglian, who has attended several congestion pricing court hearing said she believes the arguments against the plan are “unwinnable.” Mitchell Moss, urban policy and planning professor at New York University, agreed that “courts are very reluctant to override the decisions of duly constituted authorities.”
Sen. Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue), who cosponsored the state bill looking to repeal congestion pricing, acknowledged that opponents have their work cut out for them. Murray said “it looks like the lawsuit angle probably isn’t working,” and noted that Republican state lawmakers looking to overturn the program are unlikely to succeed without support from Democrats — some of whom have also spoken out against congestion pricing, but he said haven’t introduced legislation.
“How serious are they?” Murray asked. He believes opponents’ best hopes lie in Trump “threatening to hold back some funding” from New York unless it drops the tolling plan.
Moss questioned the seriousness of Republican lawmakers who fight against congestion pricing, but “get so much benefit” from its existence.
“As long as congestion pricing is here, they have something to hammer Hochul on,” said Moss, a congestion pricing supporter. “This is a gift … Why take it away?”
Moss also expressed skepticism that Trump or Congress would intervene in an issue primarily affecting the New York region. “This is not the highest priority,” he said.
As unpopular as congestion pricing is in the suburbs, Marc Herbst, the Suffolk County representative on the MTA Board, said political opponents may end up with an even bigger problem on their hands if they got rid of it.
The revenue generated from the tolls is meant to finance $15 billion in already approved MTA capital projects. Without that money, government leaders would have to come up with a new revenue stream, Herbst said, including, potentially, tolls on currently free East River crossings or new taxes that would impact many more New Yorkers than the relatively few that regularly drive into Manhattan.
“My concern is, should anyone be successful in stopping congestion pricing, what is the alternative?” Herbst said. “Someone has to pay for the system.”
Congestion pricing opponents are pinning their hopes of repealing the new tolls on pending lawsuits, legislation, and the incoming White House administration, but haven’t laid out a quick way that President-elect Donald Trump could stop the program once he takes office on Monday.
Transportation experts and supporters of the program, meanwhile, are confident the Manhattan tolls are here to stay.
Despite plentiful opposition — including from much of Long Island’s population, according to a 2023 poll — New York’s first-in-the-nation congestion pricing program took effect on Jan. 5, charging most vehicles $9 for driving below 60th Street in Manhattan during peak hours. Having failed to prevent the tolls from taking effect, congestion pricing opponents, who argue the new tolls are overburdening working New Yorkers, have shifted their efforts to repealing the plan.
In a statement Thursday, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island) said “with the help of President Trump” she and other congestion pricing opponents in Congress “will continue to use every legislative and legal avenue at the federal level to reverse this disastrous cash grab brought to us by Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature.”
In November, the Federal Highway Administration gave final administrative approval to the congestion pricing plan, what MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber at the time called “the final bureaucratic hurdle.”
Lieber has expressed confidence that the plan will survive the various threats it faces, including from Trump.
“People just don’t routinely pull grant agreements or other agreements between the feds and states and localities,” Lieber said at a news conference at Grand Central Terminal on Jan. 5, the day the tolls took effect.
Lieber noted that Trump is from New York and said he understands “what traffic is doing to our city.”
“I’m hopeful that, although there has been some rhetoric on this, that we will continue to work with the federal government and get through the change in administration.”
The MTA has said the new tolls in the first week resulted in increases in travel speeds of 20-30% on some Manhattan streets, and of 30-40% at bridges and tunnels linking to Manhattan. Officials said Friday there was no new data to share. Other traffic analysts have said early results have been more mixed, with less of an obvious improvement in Manhattan.
Lisa Daglian, executive director of the MTA’s Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, which advocates for transit riders, noted that New York’s congestion pricing program is based on the federal government’s Value Pricing Pilot Program, which was adopted in 2001 by George W. Bush’s administration and includes other projects throughout the U.S. aimed at reducing car use.
The federal government striking down New York’s congestion pricing plan “would be an interesting precedent.”
“Does that mean you’re also going to repeal the other value pricing program projects that include tolled roads in Florida?” said Daglian, an advocate for congestion pricing who believes the various challenges will ultimately turn out to be a “nothingburger,” especially as New Yorkers come to appreciate the plan’s benefits.
Daglian, who has attended several congestion pricing court hearing said she believes the arguments against the plan are “unwinnable.” Mitchell Moss, urban policy and planning professor at New York University, agreed that “courts are very reluctant to override the decisions of duly constituted authorities.”
Sen. Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue), who cosponsored the state bill looking to repeal congestion pricing, acknowledged that opponents have their work cut out for them. Murray said “it looks like the lawsuit angle probably isn’t working,” and noted that Republican state lawmakers looking to overturn the program are unlikely to succeed without support from Democrats — some of whom have also spoken out against congestion pricing, but he said haven’t introduced legislation.
“How serious are they?” Murray asked. He believes opponents’ best hopes lie in Trump “threatening to hold back some funding” from New York unless it drops the tolling plan.
Moss questioned the seriousness of Republican lawmakers who fight against congestion pricing, but “get so much benefit” from its existence.
“As long as congestion pricing is here, they have something to hammer Hochul on,” said Moss, a congestion pricing supporter. “This is a gift … Why take it away?”
Moss also expressed skepticism that Trump or Congress would intervene in an issue primarily affecting the New York region. “This is not the highest priority,” he said.
As unpopular as congestion pricing is in the suburbs, Marc Herbst, the Suffolk County representative on the MTA Board, said political opponents may end up with an even bigger problem on their hands if they got rid of it.
The revenue generated from the tolls is meant to finance $15 billion in already approved MTA capital projects. Without that money, government leaders would have to come up with a new revenue stream, Herbst said, including, potentially, tolls on currently free East River crossings or new taxes that would impact many more New Yorkers than the relatively few that regularly drive into Manhattan.
“My concern is, should anyone be successful in stopping congestion pricing, what is the alternative?” Herbst said. “Someone has to pay for the system.”
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