Traffic coming off the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge in New York. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg News)
New York fired a salvo in the fight to shield its congestion pricing program from the Trump administration’s push to shut it down, indicating it is now poised to seek an immediate court order in its lawsuit to protect the traffic tolling plan.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority hasn’t yet asked for such a freeze. But it said in a letter May 2 that it has reached an “impasse” in talks to stop the Department of Transportation from trying to kill the system, which has been up and running for four months. The MTA suggested it will ask the judge on the case to issue a preliminary injunction blocking DOT from withholding federal approvals or funding for New York as it continues to impose the toll.
The move further escalates a dispute between the state and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy over the controversial program, which President Donald Trump has called a business killer; meanwhile, the state has cited figures to show its success. The filing comes shortly after Duffy told Gov. Kathy Hochul and the MTA to stop the toll by May 21. U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman gave the MTA until May 5 to seek the injunction.
A DOT spokesperson had no immediate comment on the filing.
Showdown With Trump
The $9 toll on most drivers entering some of Manhattan’s busiest streets has led to a showdown between the Republican president and the Democratic governor. The MTA sued the Trump administration after Duffy announced in a Feb. 19 letter a reversal of U.S. approval for the program under former President Joe Biden, even though the tolling had started Jan. 5.
Duffy
Congestion pricing is expected to provide $15 billion of funding for the MTA to upgrade train signals, make more subway stations accessible and extend the Second Avenue subway to Harlem. It is also meant to reduce traffic and the pollution that comes with gridlock. About 7.5 million fewer vehicles have entered the tolled zone this year, with decreases of 8% in January, 12% in February and 13% in March, and monthly revenue from the tolls is on track to support a planned bond issue, according to MTA data.
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The MTA needs state and federal money for infrastructure upgrades to improve service and attract more riders, and its 2025-2029 capital plan relies on an anticipated $14 billion of federal funds.
Lawyers for the two sides had earlier submitted a proposed case schedule running though October, meaning the tolls would likely stay in place until then unless the U.S. won a court order stopping them from being collected. Then Duffy sent another letter saying he would begin taking “compliance measures,” including blocking federal authorizations for projects in Manhattan.
E-ZPass readers and license plate scanning cameras over Second Avenue in Manhattan. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg News)
The battle over congestion pricing has also reflected signs of internal discord at the Justice Department. A letter last month from federal prosecutors in Manhattan to DOT lawyers in Washington sharply criticizing their legal approach and urging a shift in tactics was mistakenly published to the court’s public docket. DOT then replaced the Manhattan attorneys with lawyers from the Justice Department’s civil division for the case.
‘Complete Gamesmanship’
In the May 2 filing, Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for the MTA, proposed a schedule that would allow Liman to rule on a preliminary injunction against Duffy’s compliance measures before reaching his decision on whether the U.S. can rescind approval for the program altogether.
Kaplan said the move was necessary after DOT lawyers rebuffed the MTA’s requests for an agreement not to take those measures while the case proceeds.
She said the U.S. is arguing that no court order is needed because “administrative proceedings are ongoing.” She called that argument “complete gamesmanship.”
