The U.S. Dept. of Transportation halted a NYC toll plan, citing no free option for drivers and its revenue-generating focus for public transportation system.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has terminated approval for New York City’s Central Business District Tolling Program, ending the plan that charges drivers a new toll when entering Manhattan below 60th Street.
This decision rescinds a Nov. 21, 2024, agreement that had allowed tolls under the Value Pricing Pilot Program (VPPP), according to a statement from the department.
In a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy expressed concern that the toll structure ran counter to the principle of maintaining toll-free federal-aid highways.
“New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working-class Americans and small business owners,” he said in a statement. “Commuters using the highway system to enter New York City have already financed the construction and improvement of these highways through the payment of gas taxes and other taxes. But now the toll program leaves drivers without any free highway alternative, and instead, takes more money from working people to pay for a transit system and not highways. It’s backwards and unfair.”
According to the letter, the toll authority was ended for two primary reasons. The first is that the plan provides no toll-free option for many drivers traveling in the affected zone.
The second is that the rate was designed largely to raise revenue for public transit, rather than strictly to cut back on traffic congestion.
Because of these issues, officials concluded that the pilot fell outside the scope of what is permitted under the VPPP.
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in a statement that the MTA is suing the Trump administration over the move in the Southern District of New York.
The program “has already dramatically reduced congestion, bringing reduced traffic and faster travel times, while increasing speeds for buses and emergency vehicles—will continue notwithstanding this baseless effort to snatch those benefits away from the millions of mass transit users, pedestrians and, especially, the drivers who come to the Manhattan Central Business District,” Lieber wrote in a post on X.
By Chase Smith
