The Trump administration has extended the deadline he gave in New York to end his congestion pricing program, the first of its kind in the country, while New York officials performed to keep the tolls.
The Federal Highway Administration initially asked the Metropolitan Transportation Author to stop receiving this Friday to allow an “orderly cessation”.
Traffic moves along Midtown Manhattan on February 19, 2025 in New York.
Images Alex Kent / Getty
A day before this deadline, the Secretary of Transports Sean Duffy Announced on social networks That the Ministry of Transport grants New York a “30 -day extension as discussions continue”.
“Know that the billions of dollars that the federal government sends to New York are not a white check. Continuous non-compliance will not be taken lightly,” he said on Thursday.
Duffy also warned New York Governor Kathy Hochul that President Donald Trump and the federal government “put New York in opinion.”
“Your refusal to end the cord prices and your disrespect open to the federal government is unacceptable,” he said.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy speaks at a press conference at the Ministry of Transport on March 11, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images
In response, Hochul underlined his declaration On social networks after the United States Ministry of Transport, carried out the federal approval of the congestion pricing plan last month, in which she said: “The cameras remain.”
The approval was withdrawn on February 19 following an examination requested by Trump. Duffy said at the time that the “scope of this pilot project such that Approved exceeds the authorized authority authorized by the Congress” within the framework of the Pilot Program for the value of the value of the Federal Highway Administration while calling it “behind and unfair”.
The MTA said that he calls into question the overthrow of the Trump administration before the Federal Court, requesting a declaratory judgment according to which the DOT’s decision is not appropriate. Hochul and the president and CEO of MTA, Janno Lieber, said that they did not extinguish the tolls without order of the court.
Lieber reiterated this position during remarks during an unrelated press briefing on Tuesday while affirming that it is “not a will” test “but a normal litigation procedure.
“We are simply with the dispute as you would normally in any dispute,” he said. “It is not a testing test. It is just the reality of when you have a dispute, things do not change as long as a court orders it, and it has not yet happened.”
“We do not expect this to be the case, because we are on a fairly strong legal basis,” he added.
New York’s governor Kathy Hochul presents a booklet mentioning the congestion prize, seated next to the CEO of MTA Janno Lieber at a meeting of the MTA board of directors in Grand Central Madison in New York, on February 25, 2025.
Sarah Yenesel / Epa-Efe / Shutterstock
Lieber said that the federal government had not yet responded to the MTA’s initial complaint and that there is even more time to do it.
“The good news is that the program, which has had incredible advantages for New Yorkers – a faster trip, cleaner, fewer accidents, less horn, a quieter environment, better for all, and also great economic advantages – everything that will continue,” said Lieber.
“The program has been underway for 10 weeks, and it has succeeded in all standards,” he continued. “And that’s the right thing to do for New York to continue it.”
The congestion pricing plan, which was launched on January 5, invoices passenger vehicles $ 9 to access Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours as part of an effort to facilitate congestion and collect funds for the city’s public transport system. During peak hours, small trucks and charter buses are billed $ 14.40 and large trucks and tourist buses pay $ 21.60.
The toll generated nearly $ 50 million in revenues in its first month and is on the right track to generate $ 500 million in net revenues by the end of this year, as initially planned, said MTA.
