Donald Trump Has Announced an End to Congestion Pricing, but What Is It?

Donald Trump announced he wants to end New York City‘s congestion pricing policy, which charges cars $9 to enter certain areas to reduce traffic. The MTA and Governor plan to fight this in court.

Although he is a native New Yorker, Donald Trump has not exactly made appeasing the people of New York City one of his goals since he took office. Now, he's announced that he wants to kill congestion pricing in New York City, just months after the policy was initially rolled out.

Following the news that Trump wants to put an end to congestion pricing, many wanted to better understand what congestion pricing even is, and why so many New Yorkers want it to stick around. Here's what we know.

What does congestion pricing mean?

Congestion pricing refers to a policy through which people are charged extra for the use of a busy mode of transportation. The policy can apply to anything from buses to trains, but in New York City, the policy is applied to cars that use certain sections of the city.

Specifically, congestion pricing is enforced from 60th Street to the bottom of Manhattan, and cars are asked to pay $9 every time they enter New York and use the streets where pricing is enforced.

This policy of adding a surcharge is done to avoid huge levels of congestion. Essentially, the policy is designed to reduce traffic and make the roads more usable for the drivers who are now paying a toll for the privilege of using them.

So far, that has been the exact effect of the policy, with the MTA reporting a noticeable drop in the level of congestion on the roads where the policy is enforced.

Can Trump cancel congestion pricing?

Given that the policy only applies to New York City, you would think that its implementation would be handled at the city or state level. Nevertheless, Donald Trump's administration has rescinded its approval of the policy, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy writing a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul explaining that the policy was unfair to travelers trying to enter New York.

"New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners," the letter explained. "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."

As of right now, the tolls are still in effect, and it's unclear whether DOT approval is required to keep the program operational.

The MTA and Governor Hochul have already announced that they are planning to fight the administration's attempt to kill the program in court, so we'll see who ultimately has the power to end the program.

"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," MTA CEO Janno Lieber said.

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