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Donald Trump’s administration has terminated federal approval of New York City’s controversial congestion pricing scheme, sparking an immediate state-federal legal battle.
Transportation secretary Sean Duffy informed New York governor Kathy Hochul of his department’s decision in a letter on Wednesday. “I share the president’s concerns about the impacts to working-class Americans who now have an additional financial burden to account for in their daily lives,” he wrote.
Trump lauded the move on social media: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
“We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king” Hochul said in a statement posted on X. “Public transit is the lifeblood of New York City and critical to our economic future — as a New Yorker, like President Trump, knows very well.”
“We’ll see you in court,” she added.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state entity that operates the New York City subway and bus system, sued the Trump administration in federal court just an hour after the termination was announced, according to chair and chief executive Janno Lieber.
Lieber said it was “mystifying” that the transportation department would “totally reverse course”.
The MTA filed the lawsuit “to ensure that the highly successful programme, which has already dramatically reduced congestion . . . while increasing speeds for buses and emergency vehicles — will continue”, he said.
The federal decision was a “baseless effort to snatch those benefits away from the millions of mass transit users, pedestrians and, especially, the drivers who come to the Manhattan central business district”.
Trump’s administration said it took issue with the “unprecedented” scope of the congestion-charging programme, the lack of a toll-free alternative for drivers and how the state calculated the fee.
The president campaigned on a promise to terminate congestion pricing, calling it a “massive business killer” and a “disaster for NYC”.
In a separate statement, Duffy said the plan was a “slap in the face to working-class Americans and small business owners” and “the toll programme leaves drivers without any free highway alternative, and instead, takes more money from working people to pay for a transit system and not highways. It’s backwards and unfair.”
The transportation department withdrew a crucial federal authorisation granted to New York state by Joe Biden’s administration last year. New York became the first US city to launch a congestion pricing programme aimed at easing traffic and raising $15bn for the local transport system.
The scheme had been working, according to early data, with bridge and tunnel rush-hour speeds increasing. The MTA reported a significant reduction in the number of vehicles in the zone, as well as an increase in public transport ridership and speeds, during its first month.
Under the programme, which began in early January, drivers entering the busiest areas of Manhattan during peak hours must pay a $9 fee. The transportation department said the toll was not “set primarily to raise revenue for transit, rather than at an amount needed to reduce congestion”.
Congestion pricing was originally supposed to start in 2024 with a $15 fee, but Hochul halted the programme because she feared it would hurt Democratic candidates at the polls. She instituted it with the lower toll after Trump’s election victory in November.
Phil Murphy, the New Jersey governor, made a last-ditch attempt to block New York City’s congestion pricing in federal courts, but failed. On inauguration day, Murphy wrote a letter to Trump asking him to take a look at the plan, which he called “a disaster for working- and middle-class New Jersey commuters”.
Duffy cited Murphy’s concerns in his letter to Hochul.
Additional reporting by Sam Learner and Zehra Munir in New York
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