NY Gov. Hochul says congestion pricing will remain

New York City’s $9 congestion toll on drivers in Manhattan’s busiest areas will remain in effect, despite the federal government’s Sunday deadline to scrap the program.

In a statement on the deadline, a spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said, “The program is working. Traffic is down, business is up and the cameras are staying on.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Friday said it expected New York to comply with the Sunday deadline to “terminate this program,” in a statement to NBC New York.

“USDOT will continue to fight for working class Americans whose tax dollars have already funded and paid for these roads,” the department said.

But MTA officials told NBC New York it was unlikely anything would change Sunday, given the fact that a federal judge has so far sided with New York that the toll is legal, and court filings suggest it will likely take until the Fall for the case to be fully resolved.

Plus, both Hochul and the MTA have said that unless directed otherwise by a court, the cameras, and therefore the tolls, will stay on.

The plan has already faced a number of deadlines from the federal government, followed by just as many pushbacks.

Congestion pricing went into effect on Jan. 5, and has goals to lessen traffic in the overcrowded city and pump funds into the ailing subway system.

The plan charges most cars entering Manhattan’s central business district — which stretches from 60th Street all the way down to the southern tip of the Financial District — a peak fee of $9 from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.

The Trump administration sought to kill the program on Feb. 19, with the president declaring himself “king” in a social media post that celebrated the potential end of congestion pricing.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, in a letter to Hochul, said that the federal government has jurisdiction over highways leading to Manhattan, making the newly imposed toll an unfair burden for drivers outside of New York City.

Hochul fought back, declaring: “The cameras are staying on.”

The next week, the Trump administration gave New York until March 21 to end congestion pricing. On March 20, Duffy pushed back the deadline another 30 days, according to the Associated Press.

The USDOT on April 8 said it was not backing down on Sunday’s deadline. It remains to be seen whether congestion pricing will be stopped by the Trump administration.