New York Asks Judge to Bar Transportation Department From Ending Congestion Pricing Program

The department announced in February that it was terminating the program.

Cars pass under a congestion pricing warning sign on George Washington Bridge as congestion pricing takes effect in New York City on Jan. 5, 2025. Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

New York City and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) urged a judge late on Monday to block the Trump administration from pulling the plug on Manhattan’s congestion pricing program.

Lawyers for the city’s transportation department and the MTA sought a preliminary injunction blocking Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s attempt to kill the program and his threat to suspend federal government funding for projects throughout New York City, while the state’s lawsuit against the administration plays out.

In its filings with the court, the city and the MTA—which operates the city’s subways, buses, and regional rail networks—said Duffy had threatened the actions in an April 21 letter addressed to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The letter warned of “serious consequences” if New York state failed to comply with federal law and end the congestion pricing program by late May.

Duffy also said that the Department of Transportation (DOT) may consider imposing additional measures, such as suspending funding for projects throughout New York City, including blocking obligations of both formula and competitive funds.

In its filing with the court, lawyers for the city and the MTA said they are likely to succeed on the merits of their case and will suffer “irreparable harm” if the relief is not granted. They also said public interest and equities favor granting relief.

“State DOT is likely to be successful on the merits because a federal agency may not withhold funds that Congress has appropriated and the retaliatory moratorium that Secretary Duffy has threatened will do just that,” they wrote.

Lawyers further argued that DOT lacked authority to withhold the funds based on the purported termination of the Value Pricing Pilot Program (VPPP) in February because the termination was “arbitrary and capricious.”

“US DOT’s threatened retaliation will delay essential transportation projects in New York, causing irreparable harm to State DOT and the people of New York, including increased congestion and risk of traffic accidents; non-compensable economic losses, and significant administrative burdens,” attorneys wrote.

Toll Fees Explained

New York’s first-in-the-nation congestion pricing program went into effect on Jan. 5 and charges $9 to drivers of passenger and small commercial vehicles entering Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours, from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.

From 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on weekdays and from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. on weekends, that fare goes down to $2.25.

For motorcycles, that toll is $4.50 during the peak period and $1.05 during the overnight period.

The fees are in addition to the tolls drivers already pay to cross bridges and tunnels into Manhattan, though the congestion program does offer some discounts to low-income drivers.

New York City says the program will help dramatically cut down congestion, with around 5.8 million fewer cars than expected in the congestion zone between January and March, or an 8 percent to 13 percent reduction.

City officials also say the program will help tackle pollution and provide millions of dollars in new revenue to the city’s beleaguered transit system.

The program immediately drew opposition from the Trump administration amid concerns that it would unfairly impact working-class Americans and small businesses, and in February, DOT terminated approval of the program and gave the MTA until March 21 to stop collecting tolls from drivers entering Manhattan.

That deadline was extended for another 30 days on March 20.

Duffy has called the program an “unlawful pricing scheme” that “charges working-class citizens to use roads their federal tax dollars already paid to build.”

In its filings with the court, the MTA and the city said data showed a 12 percent reduction in traffic in April, while travel times to cross into Manhattan have also dramatically improved. Additionally, hotel stays, retail spending, and pedestrian traffic have all increased, they said.

“Stopping the program would also mean a return to the crippling congestion that has long plagued Manhattan,” they wrote.

The Epoch Times contacted the Transportation Department for comment and did not receive a response by publication time.