Last month when New York City finally instituted a pared-down version of the congestion pricing plan it introduced back in 2019, it was essentially an overnight success. Traffic dropped, allowing buses to move faster, the number of crashes went down, a wealthy man got mad about walking and it also successfully upset New Jersey. What more could regular New Yorkers possibly want? Unfortunately for those same people currently enjoying quieter and safer city streets, the Trump administration is doing its best to stop to all that. Today, the former “Real World: Boston” cast member who Trump put in charge of the Department of Transportation announced plans to kill the congestion relief zone.
In a release, the “Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons” winner announced that he had sent a letter to New York’s Governor Hochul that “rescinded a November 21, 2024 agreement signed under the Value Pricing Pilot Program (VPPP) that effectively ends tolling authority for New York City’s cordon pricing plan.” According to Duffy, “the scope of the [Central Business District Tolling Program] is unprecedented and provides no toll-free option for many drivers who want or need to travel by vehicle in this major urbanized area. Second, the toll rate was set primarily to raise revenue for transit, rather than at an amount needed to reduce congestion. By doing so, the pilot runs contrary to the purpose of the VPPP, which is to impose tolls for congestion reduction – not transit revenue generation.”
That is, of course, ridiculous on its face. Governments all over the world have successfully instituted congestion relief zones in busy cities, so it’s absolutely precedented, and allowing people to drive into the congestion relief zone for free simply because they want to would defeat the entire purpose of the program. Also, if you’re trying to cut down on the number of cars entering the busiest part of the city, you need to ensure there are other convenient, reliable ways to get there. So, of course, the money raised from congestion pricing should be used to improve public transit. Improving public transportation in Manhattan is literally the key to making this entire idea work.
Duffy’s statement on ending congestion relief
Duffy also issued a statement that was equally devoid of any substantial arguments against instituting congestion relief. Instead, he stuck to rehashing the same tired anti-congestion-pricing arguments that have already been debunked a thousand times already:
New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners. 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. The program also hurts small businesses in New York that rely on customers from New Jersey and Connecticut. Finally, it impedes the flow of commerce into New York by increasing costs for trucks, which in turn could make goods more expensive for consumer. Every American should be able to access New York City regardless of their economic means. It shouldn’t be reserved for an elite few.
Yeah, you know those people riding public transit. They’re so elite. Only a special few could ever get on a train and successfully ride it into Manhattan. Also, as we all know, the regular, working-class people who struggle to get by on whatever their job in Manhattan pays are all driving into the city where parking is already expensive as hell instead of taking the much cheaper train. None of these arguments are legitimate, but clearly, that doesn’t matter to the Trump administration.
Trump is king
The fact that Duffy was confirmed in the first place despite being completely unqualified for the job was already bad enough before he decided to start meddling, but Trump’s response to the announcement took things to a completely different level. On TruthSocial, Trump wrote, “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” Now, considering we live in a democracy, or as the morons who parrot right-wing talking points with zero understanding of what they’re saying prefer to refer to our representative democracy, a constitutional republic, it seems bad for the President of the United States to literally call himself a king. Then again, I’m one of those far-left SJW commies who would rather not let a few billionaires wipe their buttholes with the Constitution, so maybe I’m just being too sensitive here. I mean, I’m obviously not, but it’ll be interesting to see the bigots in the comments twist themselves into knots trying to explain this one away.
New York responds
New York’s Governor Hochul may still be twiddling her thumbs over whether or not to remove Adams as mayor, but it doesn’t sound like she’s very happy about the Trump administration sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong or Trump declaring himself king. On Twitter, Hochul released a statement and promised to fight back, saying “We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king.” The MTA has also released a statement pushing back, as well, saying:
Today, the MTA filed papers in federal court to ensure that the highly successful program – which 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. It’s mystifying that after four years and 4,000 pages of federally-supervised environmental review – and barely three months after giving final approval to the Congestion Relief Program – USDOT would seek to totally reverse course.
How hard New York’s leadership will actually fight still isn’t clear, but considering the hole that ending congestion pricing would blow in the state’s budget, there’s a good chance they’ll probably push back louder and more vigorously than any of the Democratic leaders in Congress that are currently still waiting for just the right pitch to finally take a swing.