The Trump administration has moved to pull the plug on New York’s congestion pricing toll — setting off a feisty legal showdown between the feds and state over the controversial scheme.
Just weeks after drivers started getting slogged with a $9 fee to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday he was scrapping approval, calling the toll’s financial burden “a slap in the face to working-class Americans and small business owners.”
But the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which administers the toll, quickly filed a federal lawsuit and vowed to fight back to keep the first-in-the-nation plan alive.
As a legal fight looms and President Trump, Gov. Kathy Hochul and others trade barbs over the move, here’s a breakdown of what happens next:
Do I still need to pay the congestion toll?
For now, drivers still have to pay the $9 toll to enter Manhattan below 60th Street.
Gov. Hochul vowed that the toll cameras would remain active — unless a judge rules otherwise.
“The cameras are staying on. We are keeping the cameras on. Lights, cameras, action. They’re staying on,” Hochul said Wednesday.
MTA CEO Janno Lieber echoed the governor, insisting: “New York ain’t going back” and “we’re not turning off the tolls.”
Is congestion pricing officially over?
The MTA has already filed a federal lawsuit to keep congestion pricing alive.
Within minutes of the news dropping, the MTA CEO vowed to battle the feds in court and fight back against the Trump administration’s “baseless effort” to pull the plug on the tolling scheme.
“It’s mystifying that after four years and 4,000 pages of federally supervised environmental review — and barely three months after giving final approval to the Congestion Relief Program — USDOT would seek to totally reverse course,” Lieber said.
Hochul, on her part, pledged the Empire State would go into “fight mode” and insisted it would emerge victorious in its legal battle.
What did President Trump do to end it?
President Trump’s Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, put Hochul on notice on Wednesday that he was pulling federal approval for the toll.
The Federal Highway Administration will now work with the state’s Department of Transportation on an “orderly termination” of the program.
Trump, who vowed to kill the program during his presidential campaign, quickly boasted about his administration signing the death warrant on the scheme.
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” the Big Apple native wrote on Truth Social.
Hochul immediately shot back, raging: “President Donald Trump tweeted ‘long live the king.’ I’m here to say New York hasn’t had a king in over 250 years. We sure as hell are not going to start.
“It feels like the commuters of our city and region are now the roadkill on Donald Trump’s revenge tour against New York,” she added.
Has the toll resulted in less traffic?
Lieber, the MTA’s boss, has already touted the toll as a success, claiming that traffic in Manhattan was down 9% in January.
He also said 1.2 million fewer vehicles had entered the central tolling business district in the first month of it being in place.
How long could the legal fight take?
There’s no telling how long the court battle could take — meaning drivers could potentially still be on the hook for the toll for months or years to come.
Prior to being enacted, congestion pricing had already been dogged by years-long hurdles and court challenges.
It was also temporarily halted by Hochul, herself, just months before the election.
How do New Yorkers feel about this?
Working-class New Yorkers rejoiced off the back of the Trump admin’s news — with some telling The Post the much-loathed driving toll was a big financial burden.
“I’m ecstatic,” said Paul Belli, a plumbing business owner in Brooklyn. “Nobody needs this. Everyone has high inflation they’re dealing with already.”
Belli said he has “spent thousands” on the toll because plumbers have on-the-job equipment that requires them to drive to work.
“My customers are going to be very happy because now I can stop charging them for the congestion pricing [adjustments],” he said. “Everyone’s been hurting through this whole thing.”
Larry Zogby, who owns a small trucking company in Queens, said he was “relieved.”
“At the end of the day, we can’t keep pushing the burden to small business,” he said, adding that he’s “been fighting this for three years.”
Meanwhile, Paul Caminiti, a teacher who commutes from Staten Island to Manhattan, said: “It’s ridiculous to pay to go to work in the city — not to have fun or go shopping — but to go to work.”
