MTA Sues USDOT as Trump Administration Moves to End NYC Congestion Pricing

The U.S. Dept. of Transportation stated in a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Feb. 19 that it has rescinded its earlier approval for New York Metropolis’s first-in-the-country congestion pricing program. However state officers stated they’d combat the transfer, submitting a lawsuit in federal courtroom minutes after receiving the discover. 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy referred to as this system, which is geared toward decreasing visitors congestion and is about to assist fund billions of {dollars}’ price of subway, bus and different transportation initiatives, “a slap within the face to working class People and small enterprise homeowners.” In a submit on social media, President Donald Trump claimed victory, declaring congestion pricing “DEAD” and New York “SAVED.” He added, “LONG LIVE THE KING!”

Hochul responded at a press convention held in a New York Metropolis subway station, saying that the congestion pricing program would stay in impact.

“New York hasn’t labored below a king in below 250 years,” Hochul stated, referencing the president’s submit. “We positive as hell aren’t going to start out now.”

In its lawsuit, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority alleges that the efforts to terminate this system “are illegal” and is asking a choose to declare the termination null and void in its go well with. 

“It’s mystifying that after 4 years of environmental examine and 4,000 pages of environmental evaluation, the U.S. DOT would search to reverse course,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber stated on the governor’s press convention. 

Federal officers had been only one a part of a multi-party settlement and the Trump administration’s actions seeking to terminate the settlement “clearly don’t require [MTA] to stop operation of this system,” the grievance states. “The established order is that congestion pricing continues, and until and till a courtroom orders in any other case, [MTA] will proceed to function this system as required by New York legislation.”

Map courtesy MTA

MTA deliberate to fund initiatives with $15 billion in bonds to be paid down with the collected tolls. These initiatives embrace the $7.7-billion Second Avenue Subway Part 2 extension, plus accessibility enhancements at subway stations, subway sign modernization and bus infrastructure. 

In response to MTA’s grievance, its affiliate, the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA), beforehand issued $378.8 million in short-term notes funding infrastructure prices and already issued one other $500 million in short-term notes funding a portion of the $15 billion in initiatives. TBTA additionally expects to shut a $500-million financial institution mortgage supporting the capital program this month. It’s counting on the toll funding to repay these money owed. Lieber stated that MTA has no contingency plan for the funding. 

“I believe it’s an actual mistake to permit infrastructure initiatives to be on the whim of the politics of the second,” says Sam Schwartz, a former New York Metropolis visitors commissioner and founding father of visitors engineering agency Sam Schwartz Consulting LLC. “Individuals in different states which can be planning main infrastructure initiatives shouldn’t have to fret {that a} new administration could are available in after the Trump administration and all of the sudden kill their initiatives.”

The congestion worth program applies to most of Manhattan south of sixtieth Road, with passenger automobiles going through $9 tolls throughout peak hours. It took effect Jan. 5, and MTA knowledge present drivers rapidly started altering their patterns, arriving within the Manhattan Central Enterprise District (CBD) within the early morning earlier than peak pricing or taking public transit. 

Lowered Congestion

Common weekday journey instances throughout river crossings into the CBD in January had been down throughout the board in comparison with a 12 months earlier, starting from a ten% discount for drivers getting into Manhattan by way of the Brooklyn or Manhattan bridges to a 48% discount for drivers getting into Manhattan by way of the Holland Tunnel, in line with MTA. Weekday journey instances inside the CBD had been additionally principally down in comparison with a 12 months earlier. MTA additionally stated bus and subway ridership had been additionally up, as was ridership at some Lengthy Island Rail Highway stations and all Metro-North Railroad stations. 

“New Yorkers are already seeing sooner commutes, much less visitors and elevated security on streets, with a 51% drop in crash-related accidents,” stated Kate Slevin, govt vice chairman of Regional Plan Affiliation, a nonprofit civic group, in a press release. 

Even gadgets like restaurant reservations, Broadway present attendance, yellow cab journeys and business workplace leases had been up in January in comparison with a 12 months earlier than, in line with Lieber, which he attributed to the congestion pricing program. 

Duffy wrote in his letter to Hochul that Trump had requested him to evaluation the Federal Freeway Administration’s approval, which had been granted in November. Regardless of the advantages seen thus far, Duffy wrote that the scope of this system as authorised “exceeds the authority approved by Congress” as a result of there’s not a non-tolled various obtainable, and since, he claimed, the tolls had been primarily pushed by the necessity for MTA funding and never for different targets equivalent to decreasing congestion. 

“Commuters utilizing the freeway system to enter New York Metropolis have already financed the development and enchancment of those highways by way of the fee of gasoline taxes and different taxes,” Duffy added within the assertion. “However now the toll program leaves drivers with none free freeway various, and as an alternative, takes more cash from working individuals to pay for a transit system and never highways.”

Federal Freeway Administration workers will contact the New York State Dept. of Transportation “to debate the orderly cessation of toll operations below this terminated pilot mission,” Duffy concluded his letter. It doesn’t present a agency finish date. 

Schwartz, the previous New York Metropolis visitors commissioner, says he hopes the Trump administration will give this system no less than a 12 months to see if it meets its targets—or that Trump might even see the advantages in lowered visitors on Fifth Avenue in entrance of Trump Tower.

“I believe that they’ve overstepped their bounds,” he says of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. “This program has been extremely profitable, way over I anticipated. Visitors speeds are up, visitors accidents are down. Broadway is up. Each indication I’ve checked out is wanting good.”