(Michael Nagle/Bloomberg Information)
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The Trump administration has reiterated a requirement for New York to finish its congestion pricing program, offering officers with a 30-day extension to show off the tolls.
To this point, the state and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have refused to adjust to a March 21 deadline to halt this system. MTA CEO Janno Lieber has beforehand stated this system will stay in impact till there’s a court docket resolution on the matter.
President Donald Trump and Division of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy are placing the state and its Governor Kathy Hochul “on discover” after New York rebuffed the prior deadline, in line with a March 20 submit on X.
“Know that the billions of {dollars} the federal authorities sends to New York will not be a clean examine,” Duffy wrote. “Continued noncompliance is not going to be taken evenly.”
.@GovKathyHochul — the federal authorities and @POTUS are placing New York on discover.
Your refusal to finish cordon pricing and your open disrespect in direction of the federal authorities is unacceptable.
Simply as your excessive tolls and no free highway possibility are a slap within the face to laborious…
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) March 20, 2025
Avi Small, a spokesperson for Hochul, emphasised that congestion pricing is working and help for this system has continued to develop. “We’ve seen Secretary Duffy’s tweet, which doesn’t change what Governor Hochul has been saying all alongside: the cameras are staying on,” he stated in an emailed assertion.
In February, Duffy tried to finish the metropolis’s congestion pricing program by reversing a key federal approval a month after tolling started in a lot of Manhattan. The MTA subsequently sued, saying efforts to halt the initiative have been unlawful.
Congestion pricing is anticipated to boost $15 billion to modernize subway alerts from the Thirties, make extra stations accessible and lengthen the Second Avenue subway to Harlem. With out that new income, the MTA and state lawmakers might want to discover an alternate funding supply or postpone very important infrastructure initiatives meant to enhance mass-transit service and entice extra riders.
“The established order stays, which suggests everybody can proceed to anticipate much less visitors, sooner commutes, and safer streets in Manhattan,” John J. McCarthy, the MTA’s coverage and exterior relations chief, stated in a March 20 assertion. “There was exhaustive research, projected advantages have been proper, and we will’t return to gridlock.”
Duffy’s missive comes a day after the White Home threatened to withhold federal funding from the MTA if the company doesn’t adjust to a request for data on transit crime. Duffy despatched a letter to Lieber demanding a complete plan to scale back crime and security incidents.
The MTA depends on as a lot as $2.5 billion of federal {dollars} yearly, Jai Patel, the MTA’s co-chief monetary officer, stated at a January board assembly. The transit supplier is anticipating 20%, or $14 billion of its upcoming multi-year capital plan to be financed by federal funding.
