Agreement Keeps Manhattan Congestion Pricing Tolls in Place … For Now

The Trump administration has been rerouted, for a time, by the courts in its crusade to kill New York’s congestion pricing program.

The State of New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) agreed that the termination date for the tolling program into central Manhattan would be postponed until July or sometime in the fall, according to a court filing.

The extension provides both parties with the opportunity to compile administrative records for additional discovery, which may be particularly necessary for the federal government, as congestion pricing has gone undefeated in courtrooms across the tri-state area, including legal challenges from the State of New Jersey.

In February, the federal DOT, under Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, said it would revoke the tolling plan’s federal approval, with Duffy calling it “a slap in the face of working-class Americans and small business owners.” The March 21 deadline given to the MTA and Gov. Kathy Hochul to kill the program already passed with Hochul’s administration and the MTA defying the order, opting to take their chances in court.

“Since congestion pricing took effect three months ago, traffic is down and business is up – and that’s the kind of progress we’re going to keep delivering for New Yorkers,” Sam Spokony, a spokesperson for Hochul’s office, said in a statement.

The MTA declined to comment, while the U.S. DOT did not immediately respond to a request.

Congestion pricing has survived a slew of lawsuits.

Proposed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2017 and adopted by the state legislature in 2019, congestion pricing sat in limbo for years as the first Trump administration ignored the state in providing guidance for approval of the program.

Enter Joe Biden.

The federal government under his leadership moved the program forward, ultimately giving the plan full approval to proceed in November. Biden’s approval came after Democrats were dealt a devastating election loss earlier that month that ushered in a second Trump administration.

Just months prior, in June, Hochul herself paused the program days before it was set to go live, but she later unpaused its rollout with a $9 toll instead of the $15 previously adopted.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.