Donald Trump, like many New Yorkers, hates "congestion pricing" or "congestion taxes" or whatever Democrats are calling it this week. He has made it clear that he thinks the scheme would hurt the city's economy.
Trump promised to end congestion pricing in his first week back in office. Now, according to sources in the White House reported by several media outlets, Trump is about ready to ask the Department of Transportation to rescind a key rule that allows New York City to develop a congestion pricing plan.
The $9 toll that took effect in lower Manhattan on January 5 was only possible because the Department of Transportation allowed it to go forward by waiving certain requirements. Trump will test whether the chief executive can cancel the billion-dollar program.
“It is questionable whether the administration can unilaterally halt congestion pricing,” said Michael Gerrard, a Columbia Law School professor. “The legal authority for that is not at all apparent.”
It may not be "apparent," but that doesn't mean squat as far as the law is concerned.
“We’ve been sued in every federal court and state court east of the Mississippi, and we’re batting 1.000,” Janno Lieber, the chair and chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said in an interview this month. “We’ve won every time.”
That's true. But the Metropolitan Transit Authority has never locked horns with the chief executive. Trump has a lot of weight behind the effort and has named a key ally to the post of chief at the Federal Transit Administration. Former Republican Congressman Marc Molinaro, a fierce opponent of congestion pricing, will oversee about $20 billion in transit funds and sounds like just the sort of leader needed to eliminate congestion pricing.
There is a clear path to undoing the State’s cash grab. The MTA is in desperate need of reform, transparency & accountability.
— Marc Molinaro 🇺🇸 (@marcmolinaro) January 23, 2025
Hardworking NYers & New Jerseyans aren’t an ATM for this bloated bureaucracy.
Safety, accountability, accessibility & efficiency first! https://t.co/Sp5LL01nyH
Congestion pricing seeks both to reduce the number of vehicles entering the newly tolled zone and to help the M.T.A. raise $15 billion in financing for repairs and upgrades to the city’s aging subway system. The funding is also earmarked for improvements to the authority’s bus fleet and two commuter train lines.
The Transportation Department was still in the early stages of weighing the best legal strategy to try to dismantle congestion pricing, three people familiar with the discussion told The New York Times.
One option under consideration, the officials who requested anonymity said, is that the highway administration could reopen the program’s environmental review process and force a pause.
The plan is to raise $1 billion from congestion pricing and then hit up New York taxpayers for another $15 billion in bonds to finance repairs and shiny new subway stations. Some Republican lawmakers GOP lawmakers have discussed linking federal aid for the MTA to requiring a forensic audit of the authority. Wouldn't that open a can of vipers?
“America’s economy relies on New York City, and New York City relies on public transit — that’s why Governor Hochul will always advocate for funding the commuter rail, subways and buses that fuel the economic growth of the greatest city in the world,” Hochul spokesperson Avi Small said.
Fine. Who said repair to infrastructure has to come from a tax on roads and subways that citizens have already been taxed for? The problem is that taxes already overburden New York residents, so they want residents in New Jersey and citizens living outside of the city to pay because Gotham politicians are too chicken to raise taxes to pay for the transportation infrastructure they say they need.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Democratic leadership want to continue to skate along using non-residents' money to pay for their grandiose schemes. And the worry is that once congestion pricing catches on in New York, it won't be long before greedy politicians in other cities and states initiate their own congestion pricing schemes.
I hope Trump can nip this scheme in the bud, even though ending congestion pricing will face challenges in court.
