NYC Congestion Pricing, We Hardly Knew Ye
Or maybe we'll know ye for a while longer... or again. Who knows?
I do have more on Social Security stuff, but that will certainly keep (it’s from longer than I’ve been alive — it will keep.)
But it looks like NYC congestion pricing will have been shorter-lived than the Cook County soda tax. I barely got anything out of the congestion pricing! I was waiting for things to warm up so I could check the data tracker for a time when people actually want to go in to the city.
Here are the prior posts:
5 Jun 2024: Public Finance Round-Up 2024 June 5: NY, Chicago, and Audit Delays! - this was when Hochul was trying to dodge imposing the congestion pricing right before the 2024 elections
12 Jun 2024: Hochul's Congestion Pricing Hokey Pokey: More Reactions - Hochul was successful in pushing off implementation, but nobody was fooled
12 Nov 2024: Taxing Tuesday: The Return of Trump and NYC Congestion Charges! - Trump won anyway, and Hochul was all: oh well, here comes the congestion pricing… gotta rush it in before Trump thinks of a way of cancelling it!
7 Jan 2025: Taxing Tuesday: Congestion Pricing Comes to NYC, Finally - Hochul managed to get it started before Trump was sworn in
22 Jan 2025: NYC Congestion Pricing Check-In: What Are the Effects So Far? - it’s tough to tell, because it’s really frickin cold right now, and people don’t want to even go to Manhattan during this sort of weather
I will come back to the congestion tracker in a moment, because there are some good data elements on a few of the routes.
Okay, perhaps I’ve exaggerated the short-lived-ness of the congestion pricing. Let’s see the news.
Trump and NYC fight again! This time over congestion pricing!
NBC News: Trump administration terminates approval of New York City congestion pricing
President Donald Trump declared himself "king" on Wednesday while celebrating his administration's bid to nix federal approval of New York’s “congestion pricing” — an auto toll instituted last month to raise funds for the region’s aging mass transit system.
In a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the federal government has jurisdiction over highways leading to Manhattan and that these additional tolls posed an unfair burden in motorists outside the city.
Trump celebrated the potential end to congestion pricing and appeared to liken himself to royalty.
"CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!" he wrote on social media.
NY PIX11: Congestion pricing tolls remain in effect in NYC amid legal fight: MTA
Congestion pricing tolls will remain in effect in New York City until a judge rules on the Trump administration’s effort to end it, MTA and state officials said Wednesday.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday the Federal Highway Administration terminated approval for the congestion pricing program in New York City.
In response, the MTA swiftly took legal action and filed papers in federal court in an effort to keep congestion pricing going.
The MTA’s court filing called the Trump administration’s efforts “unlawful” and said the court should declare the efforts “null and void.”
“We are seeking a declaratory judgment making clear that the congestion pricing program is fully authorized. Obviously that will take some time, but until a judge rules, these cameras are staying on, and we expect the judge to rule in our favor,” said Brian Mahanna, legal counsel to Gov. Kathy Hochul.
That should be fun. My tax dollars going to sue against my other tax dollars.
Gothamist: Trump declares NYC congestion pricing dead, proclaiming 'LONG LIVE THE KING'
President Donald Trump’s administration revoked federal approval for congestion pricing on Wednesday, taking a first step toward fulfilling his campaign promise to kill the tolls that charge drivers a $9 daytime fee to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street.
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!" Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, declaring victory even as the MTA vowed to keep the tolls on until a judge said otherwise.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent Gov. Kathy Hochul a letter stating his agency revoked federal approval for the tolls, which were permitted to launch through a Federal Highway Administration 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.
Less than an hour after Duffy issued his letter, MTA officials filed a defiant federal lawsuit against the federal Department of Transportation, arguing the Trump administration was unlawfully attempting to reverse approval of the program.
“The status quo is that congestion pricing continues, and unless and until a court orders otherwise, plaintiffs will continue to operate the program as required by New York law,” the MTA’s lawsuit states.
If Trump succeeds in canceling the tolls, he will strip more than $15 billion the MTA planned to spend on crucial upgrades to the city’s transit systems.
That last bit is the true sticking point: it wasn’t about improving air quality anywhere in NYC or reducing road traffic per se.
It was about getting more revenue for the MTA.
They’re starving for it.
(And you know the federal government isn’t going to be coughing up more anytime soon, unless Congress is going to be disbursing it and… yeah, what is Congress up to, anyway?)
Some Congestion Pricing Effects
Let me go back to the congestion pricing tracker, because some of the routes they’re tracking have shown huge effects.
Holland Tunnel (route 7) — affected by congestion pricing:
Lincoln Tunnel (route 6) — affected by congestion pricing:
Pay close attention to the vertical scales.
In some cases, there are large differences. In others, the difference is only 2-3 minutes.
Hell’s Kitchen to Midtown East (route 2) — affected by congestion pricing:
I was being nice in selecting those three routes. There are noticeable differences with the blue line (pre-congestion pricing) having noticeably longer commutes in the afternoons compared with the post-congestion red and purple lines.
Not all the routes in affected areas are showing the same patterns.
Greenwich Village to Alphabet City (route 4) — affected by congestion pricing:
If you need to go from Greenwich Village to Alphabet City (I used to, being an NYU grad student back in the day), there aren’t lots of choices other than vehicle. Maybe you could bike it… in January/February? I don’t think so. There are small differences in there.
But here’s a great data anomaly, where I can guess what happened:
FDR Drive (route 14) — not directly affected by congestion pricing:
You see that spike in the purple line at 10 pm? It went to 20 minutes, where it’s usually about 12/13 minutes for the two other lines.
That purple line represents what happened yesterday, Tuesday 18 February 2025.
I bet there was an accident or a similar “incident” on the FDR Drive around 10 pm. That made the estimated travel times spike.
The above data is gathered from queries to Google Maps, which are updated from people using Google products live on their phones. People using Google Maps in their cars to navigate and were caught up in the bad traffic on the FDR at that moment sent the info to the system. Thus, the recorded spike in travel times.
None of that has to do with congestion pricing (probably).
Will the congestion pricing stay?
It sounds like NYC will get to keep charging everybody for now, but who knows when the lawyers swoop in.
The trolling from the official White House X account was a nice touch.
It set some into doing a Schoolhouse Rock re-creation.
Those who had more serious concerns (namely, MTA revenue) focused primarily on that. Good for them to know to ignore the troll for what it was.
Stay tuned.
You asked what Congress is doing. This week the Senate is in session working on their budget proposal. The House is on vacation.
I am absolutely too cynical! I think this end to congestion pricing is due to DOGE trying to cut down on Trump's expenses. The cost of his limo and 4 Secret Service escort vehicles traveling to NYC - outrageous!!! (Not to mention the SS travel to The City in preparation for a Presidential Visit.)