In the furor and confusion over the Trump administration’s move to kill congestion pricing in New York City, a major question remained unanswered: If the president had his way, when would the tolling program end?
Federal officials, it turned out, had a date in mind: March 21.
The battle over congestion pricing, which the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority is counting on to fund billions of dollars in mass transit repairs, is expected to play out in federal court in Manhattan. While many legal experts say that the March deadline is not binding, some question whether President Trump might resort to other tactics, including withholding federal funding for other state projects, to apply pressure.
In a letter last week to New York transportation leaders, Gloria M. Shepherd, the executive director of the Federal Highway Administration, said they “must cease the collection of tolls” by that date. The letter was included in court papers filed on Tuesday in a federal lawsuit brought by the State of New Jersey seeking to stop congestion pricing.
Ms. Shepherd requested that New York leaders work with her agency, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, “to provide the necessary details and updates” regarding the halting of toll operations.
In response, the M.T.A., which operates buses, trains and commuter rail lines in New York and manages the tolling program, vowed to keep collecting the tolls unless a federal judge instructs it otherwise.
“We’re not turning them off,” Janno Lieber, the chief executive and chair of the M.T.A., said at a news conference on Wednesday. “In the meantime, everything is steady as she goes.”
Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, wrote in a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul that the Transportation Department was revoking federal approval of congestion pricing, which charges most drivers $9 during peak traffic hours to enter a designated zone in Manhattan that starts at 60th Street and extends to the southern tip of the borough.
Mr. Duffy’s letter, which came a day before Ms. Shepherd’s, argued that the program was onerous to working-class drivers and that the use of revenue from the tolls to improve mass transit, rather than highways, was disqualifying. The program, which was approved in 2019 by state lawmakers, was authorized by the Biden administration shortly before Mr. Trump took office.
Almost immediately, the M.T.A. filed a lawsuit challenging the move, arguing that the congestion toll was well within the boundaries of the federal pilot program that had allowed it to begin. The agency also maintains that only the recipient of the federal authorization can unilaterally rescind the agreement.
The Department of Transportation declined to answer questions about the March 21 deadline, pointing instead to Mr. Duffy’s letter.
Since it began on Jan. 5, congestion pricing has already helped reduce traffic and commute times on some of the most crowded roads in New York City. Last week, Ms. Hochul met with Mr. Trump to discuss a long list of benefits that she attributed to the tolling plan, including rising Broadway attendance, more foot traffic for businesses and an increase in commercial office leasing.
The toll plan is also on track to hit its goal of raising $15 billion in funding for critical transit repairs and improvements, the M.T.A. said. Nearly $49 million was billed to vehicles entering the zone in January, according to the latest public data from the authority. Toll revenue will be used to back municipal bonds to borrow billions of dollars more to replace failing train signals, make train stations more accessible and extend the Second Avenue subway line, among other projects.
Michael Gerrard, a Columbia Law School professor who supports congestion pricing, said the March 21 date was not enforceable. “The tolls will stay in place until and unless a judge says otherwise,” he said.
Sarah M. Kaufman, the director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University, who also supports the tolling plan, said the M.T.A. should keep the toll readers on as long as possible. “At this point, the longer the cameras stay on, the more positive data we’re seeing,” she said. “There’s just one positive impact after another and that will likely continue. The doomsday scenario is not playing out.”
But the Trump administration could find other ways to pressure New York to halt congestion pricing.
Marc Molinaro, a former Republican congressman from New York and a frequent critic of the program, is expected to head the Federal Transit Administration, an agency that distributes billions of dollars a year to transit projects. Some transit experts said his office could delay reimbursing New York for major capital projects in a bid to force the state to end the tolls.
The M.T.A.’s federal lawsuit will be decided by Judge Lewis J. Liman, who has already overseen four lawsuits brought by opponents of congestion pricing. They include Vito Fossella, the Staten Island borough president; the United Federation of Teachers; the Trucking Association of New York; and two groups of New York residents. In June, Judge Liman dismissed a key argument against the tolling plan, and in December, he denied a request to block it from starting.
Jack L. Lester, a lawyer who represents one of the groups of New Yorkers, said the tolling plan should now be terminated though a “lawful judicial process.”
“Congestion pricing should not devolve into a jurisdictional battle between the federal, state and local governments with financially burdened New Yorkers caught in the middle of this dispute,” he said.
An initial conference on the M.T.A.’s suit against the Transportation Department has not yet been scheduled.
The post Trump Wants Congestion Pricing Dead by March 21. New York Won’t Budge. appeared first on New York Times.
