President Trump, the biggest heater in New York, says he is reducing congestion prices
After entering into force early this year after years to Failed StartThe pricing of congestion in New York is again threatened. President Trump has followed a promise of a campaign to target the program, which aims to reduce congestion, noise and pollution in Manhattan and repair the city’s subway funding, charging drivers entering their most loaded corridors.
According to a letter sent on Wednesday by Sean Duffy, the Trump Transport Secretary indicated the impact of the program on the working class drivers as a motivation for the decision and told Governor Katie Hochul that he would contact the state to “discuss the arranged termination of roads Operations. ” Duffy also claims that the program is illegal, as fees are used to finance the subway rather than road lanes. It is unclear whether the federal government has control over NYC fees.
The early results of congestion pricing shows what should be expected, according to the city and reports from other retail outlets. An early study of New York Times They found that many travelers who had previously gone to work with a private car had adapted by moving to other transport modes such as travel buses and found that their transit times had been reduced by minutes or more S And for those who continued to drive, travel trips also fell noticeably – they probably explain why new studies have found frequent travelers in the city Support a taxiS
Under congestion pricing, most drivers pay $ 9 to enter Manhattan under 60th street. Economists for millennia have used incentives to promote preferred behavior and this is nothing different. Manhattan is an island of 22 miles with a population of 1.6 million; I have to push people to the subway. And despite the conservative shouts that the subway is less safe than ever, raw data Just shows anotherS
Other cities around the world have implemented congestion prices in previous decades with positive results, but NYC is the first city in the United States to do so. In London, which applied congestion pricing back in 2003, the program was initially unpopular before approval increased to 59% As the locals came to appreciate the recently decorated roads. The city noted a 30% reduction in traffic in the first year.
Although congestion pricing is practical in a city like Manhattan, where the subway is significantly faster and road sails are constantly embedded – and early results show that the program works as intended – it has been turned into a guerrilla problem as conservatives use pricing of congestion as an opportunity to attack a large liberal city such as the withdrawal of personal freedoms and injury to the working class. Kamala Harris won 68% of the recent presidential vote in New York.
President Trump has long faced New York as offering red meat for his base. And his justice department this week decided to do it Play accusations of corruption Against Mayor Eric Adams, who has long been away with Trump to remove the population of migrants from the city. It is speculated that Adams will cooperate with ICE in the application of immigration in exchange for avoiding prosecution.
Eric Adams has always been a xenophobic fanatic: “(migrants) will destroy NYC. How many of you are organized to stop what they do to us? It will come to your neighborhoods. We will all be affected. The city we knew we would lose. ” pic.twitter.com/qlf4mjejuw
– Scott Hachinger (@scotthech) February 18, 2025
The capital transit body of the city, which runs Tolling, has already filed a case that challenges this move. The agency said Tolling “will continue, despite the unjustified effort to grab these benefits away from the millions of users of mass transits, pedestrians, and especially, drivers who come to the central business area in Manhattan.”
The whole thing is ironic because GOP is supposed to be the party’s right party … until it is. Why should the federal government be able to dictate whether a city and its inhabitants can charge road fees to use their ways? These are not federal highways – NYC should be able to continue with its program.
We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king. pic.twitter.com/pikwb5ownm
– Governor Katie Hochul (@govkathyhochul) February 19, 2025