The Trump administration moved to revoke federal approval for congestion pricing on Wednesday, making good on a campaign promise to kill the tolls that since Jan. 5 have charged drivers a $9 daytime fee to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent Gov. Kathy Hochul a letter announcing his agency would revoke federal approval for the tolls, which were permitted to launch through a Federal Highway Agency pilot program.
“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,” Duffy wrote in the letter.
The move is almost certain to spark a legal battle over the Trump administration’s federal authority and the 2019 state law initiating the tolls. If it holds up in court, the loss of the tolls would also strip more than $15 billion the MTA planned to use for crucial upgrades to the city’s transit systems.
“The revenues generated under this pilot program are directed toward the transit system as opposed to the highways,” Duffy wrote. “I do not believe this is a fair deal.”
Duffy also acknowledged “the termination of the program may deprive the transit system of funding, but any reliance on that funding stream was not reasonable given that FHWA approved only a 'pilot project.'"
The letter was first reported by the New York Post.
MTA data showed that traffic in Manhattan has declined since the launch of the tolls. Travel times across bridges and tunnels into the toll zone sped up.
Hochul, a Democrat, initially balked at a planned base fare of $15 as too expensive, prompting her to delay the launch of the program from last June until early 2025. But she’s said the tolls are working as intended under the $9 fare.
Republicans, meanwhile, have seized on congestion pricing as an unfair tax on drivers. Trump has said it’s bad for Manhattan’s economy. Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler, who is weighing a run for governor against Hochul, has relentlessly slammed the tolls as a cash grab.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, has echoed many of those criticisms and urged Trump to halt the tolls.