Local authorities have failed to meet the Trump administration’s April 20 deadline to remove the toll on drivers in Manhattan, New York.
On January 5, the city implemented a congestion pricing policy, which requires drivers of passenger cars, vans, pickup trucks, and SUVs to pay a $9 toll when they enter Manhattan below 60th Street between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends.
At other times, prices change according to traffic peaks. The toll also applies to trucks, taxis, buses, motorcycles and Uber services.
In February, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) ended approval of the congestion pricing policy. New York State’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the state agency that oversees tolls, then sued the federal government to overturn the program.
The DOT initially gave the MTA until March 31 to stop collecting congestion pricing. That deadline was later extended by 30 days, to April 20. As of Sunday’s deadline, congestion pricing was still in effect in New York City.
But as Naveen Athrappully writes below for The Epoch Times, both New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s office and the MTA confirmed Sunday that its traffic camera system will continue to collect the toll, which is set on most cars entering the borough below Central Park.
“The cameras will stay on,” said Avi Small, a spokesman for Hochul.
John J. McCarthy, MTA’s director of policy and external relations, said, “In case there was any doubt, the MTA, the state, and the city affirmed in a court filing that congestion pricing is here to stay and that the arguments presented by Secretary Duffy to stop it are worthless.”
The DOT said it would not lift the deadline even during the lawsuit, saying it “would not hesitate to use all the tools at its disposal” if the state failed to stop the toll.
The MTA claims that the tolls help raise money to upgrade the city’s aging transit systems.
Hochul previously said the money would support $15 billion in debt financing for mass transit capital improvements, with 80 percent of the money spent on the subway and bus systems and 20 percent on the two commuter rail systems.
The Trump administration opposed the tax because it would negatively impact small businesses and average American citizens.
In a March 20 statement on social media platform X, Transportation Minister Sean Duffy said that “an illegal pricing scheme requires working-class citizens to use roads that their federal taxes have already paid to build.”
Duffy said Hochul’s “refusal to end cordon pricing” and his “public disrespect for the federal government is unacceptable.”
According to an April 21 statement from the DOT, Duffy sent a letter to Hochul on Monday regarding the state’s “illegal toll.”
The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has been given 30 days to describe how its violation is not illegal.
If tolls are not suspended by then, or if the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) determines, after evaluating NYSDOT’s response, that New York is not in compliance, the agency will take a number of actions, he said.
This includes halting further “pre-construction” projects in Manhattan and requiring the National Environmental Policy Act to be applied to projects in the borough. The only exception would be if the projects were deemed essential to safety, the agency said.
If non-compliance continues, more restrictive measures will be taken, including suspending approval of certain projects in New York, he said.
The corrective actions “may be expanded to other geographic areas of New York State if noncompliance continues,” the DOT said.
Cars pass under E-ZPass readers and license plate scanning cameras on the George Washington Bridge as congestion pricing takes effect in New York City on January 5, 2024. Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images
MTA versus DOT
In its complaint against the federal government, the MTA said that the FHWA, a unit of the DOT, conducted a Value Pricing Pilot Program (VPPP) that will allow for the collection of a congestion charge in November 2024.
He criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to end congestion pricing, calling them “illegal.”
The MTA argued that the defendants have given “no basis” for changing their position on the program, despite having approved it just a few months ago. The defendants in the lawsuit include the DOT, FHWA and Duffy.
“Neither the VPPP Agreement nor applicable laws or regulations permit FHWA to unilaterally terminate the VPPP Agreement,” the lawsuit stated.
“This makes sense. If FHWA had the power to unilaterally terminate a VPPP program that has already been approved and implemented, it would create uncertainty about the future of such programs whenever FHWA, USDOT, or the White House change leadership—uncertainty that could make it difficult to issue bonds for other projects and would clearly undermine the goals of the VPPP.”
The termination of the VPPP contract is a “flagrant disregard for numerous federal laws and regulations,” while violating the MTA’s rights under the U.S. Constitution, the complaint says.
In a Feb. 19 letter to Hochul, Duffy said that New York City’s need for congestion pricing “appears to be driven primarily by the need to increase revenue for the Metropolitan Transit Authority system, not to reduce congestion.”
He said that toll rates set under the VPPP “should not be driven primarily by revenue objectives.”
Signs warning drivers of congestion charges are displayed near the exit of the Lincoln Tunnel in New York City on Feb. 19, 2025. Seth Wenig/AP Photo
Duffy said he acknowledged that the Federal Highway Administration, under the Biden administration, considered congestion pricing policies appropriate for approval under the VPPP initiative.
The Federal Highway Administration “did not explain the basis for its conclusion,” he wrote.
Although NYSDOT and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) have relied on the VPPP contract to collect tolls, Duffy said such reliance “should not prevent the contract from being terminated.”
While NYSDOT and TBTA “have incurred costs associated with the program, many of those costs were incurred” before the contract was signed. The Federal Highway Administration “is not aware of any significant costs associated with physically suspending the program,” the letter said.
The Epoch Times reached out to Hochul and the MTA for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
