Trump administration considers killing NYC congestion pricing, report says

Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News on Jan 30, 2025

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NEW YORK — The Donald Trump Department of Transportation is actively considering its options to kill New York’s congestion pricing plan, just three weeks after it started, two sources told The New York Times.

The paper reported Thursday that the Trump administration is weighing whether it can pull the plug on “a key federal authorization” granted by the Biden administration last year. Trump has repeatedly stated he opposes the congestion plan, which charges most motorists $9 a day to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street.

An MTA spokesman declined to comment on the report Thursday, referring the Daily news to an earlier comment made by MTA chairman Janno Lieber.

“We’ve been sued in every federal court and state court east of the Mississippi, and we’re batting a thousand,” Lieber said in an interview earlier this month. “We’ve won every time.”

Sources told The News that the key authorization the Trump administration is thought to be targeting is the so-called “VPPP” agreement, signed in December under the Value Pricing Pilot Program, to allow congestion pricing tolls to be used for purposes other than road maintenance.

The funds from the tolling plan are earmarked for mass transit improvements.

The VPPP agreement, signed in the waning days of 2024 by the state, local and federal departments of transportation, was the final sign-off required to authorize the program, revenue from which is required by law to back bonds funding the MTA’s capital program.

It was not immediately clear what legal authority the Trump administration might have to renege on the agreement.