Trump Demands That Program End By March 21
By Lindsay Press
The Trump administration has given the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) a March 21 deadline to repeal the congestion pricing toll, but Governor Kathy Hochul said she is refusing to close the program regardless of the deadline.
As previously reported by Long Island Life & Politics, Trump gave Hochul a March 21 deadline to end the Central Business District Tolling Program, which imposes fee on motorists entering Manhattan below 60th Street. However, Hochul refused to end the program.
It was also reported by LILP that U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to Hochul demanding that congestion pricing be shut down. In response, MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber filed a lawsuit to keep the program going.
“Traffic is down, business is up and the data is clear: congestion pricing is working,” a spokesperson for Hochul told Long Island Life & Politics.
According to Fox 5 New York, the MTA’s decision to continue congestion pricing is also being met with threats by the Trump administration to cut federal funding to the agency if they do not adhere to the deadline. However, Bennett Gershman, a law professor from Pace University, told the outlet it would be Congress, not the president, who has the authority to put an end to the congestion pricing toll.
Lieber listed the benefits of the tolling program, such as “faster travel, cleaner air, fewer crashes, less honking, quieter, better environment for all, and also great economic benefits, all that is going to continue,” According to Lieber, 10 weeks into the initiative, it has been “successful by every standard.”
“This is not a test of wills,” Lieber said of Trump’s deadline. “It’s just the reality of when you have a dispute, things don’t change until a court orders it, and that has not yet taken place, and we don’t expect it will because we’re on pretty strong legal footing.”
Last month, Trump posted on social media that “congestion pricing is dead,” despite what Hochul and Lieber’said.
“Congestion pricing is not a good situation. They’re treating the people of New York very badly,” Trump said in comments picked up by CBS New York in February.
According to an article from NRDC, putting an end to congestion pricing would have a negative impact on the MTA. It would also bring back the traffic that had diminished. However, the end of congestion pricing would save money for commuters driving below 60th Street.
But New York State Senator Jack Martins (R-Mineola) told the Albany Times Union the MTA has not disclosed the real reasons for the deficit. “By their own calculations, fare evasion accounts for a billion dollars and we haven’t even discussed the fraud and abuse that exists in the MTA,” he said.