The Trump administration has moved to drag the plug on New York’s congestion pricing toll — setting off a feisty authorized showdown between the feds and state over the controversial scheme.
Simply weeks after drivers began getting slogged with a $9 price to enter Manhattan under sixtieth Avenue, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy mentioned Wednesday he was scrapping approval, calling the toll’s monetary burden “a slap within the face to working-class People and small enterprise homeowners.”
However the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which administers the toll, rapidly filed a federal lawsuit and vowed to combat again to maintain the first-in-the-nation plan alive.
As a authorized combat looms and President Trump, Gov. Kathy Hochul and others commerce barbs over the transfer, right here’s a breakdown of what occurs subsequent:
Do I nonetheless must pay the congestion toll?
For now, drivers nonetheless need to pay the $9 toll to enter Manhattan under sixtieth Avenue.
Gov. Hochul vowed that the toll cameras would stay lively — until a choose guidelines in any other case.
“The cameras are staying on. We’re conserving the cameras on. Lights, cameras, motion. They’re staying on,” Hochul mentioned Wednesday.
MTA CEO Janno Lieber echoed the governor, insisting: “New York ain’t going again” and “we’re not turning off the tolls.”
Is congestion pricing formally over?
The MTA has already filed a federal lawsuit to maintain congestion pricing alive.
Inside minutes of the information dropping, the MTA CEO vowed to battle the feds in courtroom and combat again in opposition to the Trump administration’s “baseless effort” to drag the plug on the tolling scheme.
“It’s mystifying that after 4 years and 4,000 pages of federally supervised environmental assessment — and barely three months after giving last approval to the Congestion Reduction Program — USDOT would search to completely reverse course,” Lieber mentioned.
Hochul, on her half, pledged the Empire State would go into “combat mode” and insisted it might emerge victorious in its authorized battle.
What did President Trump do to finish it?
President Trump’s Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, put Hochul on discover on Wednesday that he was pulling federal approval for the toll.
The Federal Freeway Administration will now work with the state’s Division of Transportation on an “orderly termination” of this system.
Trump, who vowed to kill this system throughout his presidential marketing campaign, rapidly boasted about his administration signing the dying warrant on the scheme.
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” the Large Apple native wrote on Fact Social.
Hochul instantly shot again, raging: “President Donald Trump tweeted ‘lengthy dwell the king.’ I’m right here to say New York hasn’t had a king in over 250 years. We positive as hell are usually not going to begin.
“It feels just like the commuters of our metropolis and area are actually the roadkill on Donald Trump’s revenge tour in opposition to New York,” she added.
Has the toll resulted in much less site visitors?
Lieber, the MTA’s boss, has already touted the toll as a hit, claiming that site visitors in Manhattan was down 9% in January.
He additionally mentioned 1.2 million fewer autos had entered the central tolling enterprise district within the first month of it being in place.
How lengthy might the authorized combat take?
There’s no telling how lengthy the courtroom battle might take — that means drivers might probably nonetheless be on the hook for the toll for months or years to come back.
Previous to being enacted, congestion pricing had already been dogged by years-long hurdles and courtroom challenges.
It was additionally quickly halted by Hochul, herself, simply months earlier than the election.
How do New Yorkers really feel about this?
Working-class New Yorkers rejoiced off the again of the Trump admin’s information — with some telling The Publish the much-loathed driving toll was an enormous monetary burden.
“I’m ecstatic,” mentioned Paul Belli, a plumbing enterprise proprietor in Brooklyn. “No person wants this. Everybody has excessive inflation they’re coping with already.”
Belli mentioned he has “spent hundreds” on the toll as a result of plumbers have on-the-job tools that requires them to drive to work.
“My clients are going to be very blissful as a result of now I can cease charging them for the congestion pricing [adjustments],” he mentioned. “Everybody’s been hurting by means of this complete factor.”
Larry Zogby, who owns a small trucking firm in Queens, mentioned he was “relieved.”
“On the finish of the day, we are able to’t maintain pushing the burden to small enterprise,” he mentioned, including that he’s “been combating this for 3 years.”
In the meantime, Paul Caminiti, a trainer who commutes from Staten Island to Manhattan, mentioned: “It’s ridiculous to pay to go to work within the metropolis — to not have enjoyable or buy groceries — however to go to work.”
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