A congestion pricing toll gantry charging drivers as they enter Manhattan on the Brooklyn Bridge on the one-year anniversary of congestion pricing. Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.
Picture By Dean Moses
Federal Decide Lewis Liman’s ruling in opposition to the Trump administration Tuesday in its quest to kill congestion pricing in Manhattan should put to relaxation any future effort to cease the traffic-busting toll program.
Liman’s ruling was centered on his interpretation of the legislation that Trump’s Transportation Division (DOT), led by former actuality TV star Sean Duffy, acted unlawfully in ordering the MTA and New York state final yr to kill this system that the Biden administration beforehand accredited.
After Liman’s ruling, Duffy and the Trump DOT vowed to enchantment to the next court docket. They received’t take no for a solution, in spite of everything. However pursuing this ridiculous effort by the federal authorities to inform the town and state what to do with its personal streets is a idiot’s errand, and a waste of time.
Congestion pricing was not licensed in a vacuum by a cadre of elected officers assembly in secret. The plan was accredited by means of laws handed by the state Legislature and signed into legislation in 2018 by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo — all of whom had been elected by the individuals of this state.
It then went by means of the right overview strategy of the federal authorities below the Biden administration, and the president signed off on it. That signature of approval lasts in perpetuity and can’t be undone by a successor.
New York, and solely New York, has the authority to maintain or kill congestion pricing. These are our streets, in spite of everything. The day might come when a majority of New Yorkers urge their elected officers to place this system to relaxation, however when it does, it needs to be the individuals of New York talking for itself, not federal bureaucrats in Washington, DC.
Proper now, right here’s what we learn about congestion pricing: it’s carrying out the mission’s essential aims.
Visitors is down within the Central Enterprise Zone (CBZ) south of sixtieth Road in Manhattan, the place drivers are tolled upon coming into. The primary yr noticed an 11% drop within the variety of autos coming into Manhattan, in accordance with the MTA. Air air pollution emissions have additionally dropped by 22%. Common speeds on CBZ streets are additionally up.
Tolls from congestion pricing generated greater than a half-billion {dollars} in new income for the MTA to leverage into mass transit infrastructure enhancements from sign upgrades to buying new buses. Subway ridership can be surging once more to ranges not seen since earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic hit the town six years in the past.
And congestion pricing has not hampered the expansion of enterprise in Manhattan. Foot site visitors within the CBZ is increased than in areas exterior of it. The town’s financial system has grown, not contracted, within the congestion pricing period. Even vans are making their deliveries within the CBZ quicker and extra effectively.
Congestion pricing is a professional success for New York. There isn’t a cause for any bureaucrat exterior the town to face in its means any longer.
