TRUMP PUSHES TO END NEW YORK CITY VEHICLE CONGESTION FEE – New York voters will pick a new mass transit capital improvements
U.S. President Donald Trump said that he would ask Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to again consider terminating the New York City vehicle congestion fee, more than five months after a federal judge blocked the effort.
The first-in-the-nation program launched in January charges most passenger vehicles $9 during peak periods to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street, which is on track to raise $500 million this year.
In May, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman issued a preliminary injunction preventing the U.S. Transportation Department from withholding federal funding from New York after the Trump administration sought to stop Manhattan’s congestion pricing program.
Duffy, in April, told New York Governor Kathy Hochul the Transportation Department could withhold environmental approvals or the start of project funding if the state did not end congestion pricing. Hochul has said tourism and business have increased in New York City because the fee is dramatically reducing gridlock.
Trump said on Truth Social of Hochul that, “New York City is getting KILLED by her ridiculous CONGESTION PRICING, where people have to pay a fortune to come into Manhattan – So they just don’t come!… The place is a ghost town.” Trump’s comments on social media come just a day before New York voters will pick a new mass transit capital improvement.
