{"id":158837,"date":"2026-03-10T04:08:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T04:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/158837\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T04:08:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T04:08:05","slug":"judge-rejects-trump-admins-plan-to-end-nyc-congestion-pricing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/158837\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Rejects Trump Admin\u2019s Plan to End NYC Congestion Pricing"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News<\/a>, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A United States federal judge ruled<\/a> last week that the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to shut down New York\u2019s congestion pricing program are unlawful.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman, an appointee of President Donald Trump, handed down the decision. Liman also granted an injunction in May that allowed the congestion pricing to continue while the lawsuit played out in court.<\/p>\n

The congestion-pricing program<\/a> charges drivers a fee to enter New York City\u2019s central business zone\u2014all of Manhattan at or below 60th Street. Since it began, air quality has improved across NYC and in nearby New Jersey, research has shown<\/a>. The program has also drawn multiple lawsuits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The legal battle settled last Tuesday began in February 2025, when U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter<\/a> to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, revoking federal approval of the program.<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a> at the time, Duffy argued that the program was \u201ca slap in the face to working-class Americans and small business owners.\u201d The toll<\/a> for an average passenger vehicle is $9 during peak hours, and large trucks can pay up to $21.60.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority, along with other state agencies and advocacy groups including Sierra Club and Riders Alliance, pushed back in court, arguing that the Trump administration\u2019s legal grounds for termination were \u201carbitrary and capricious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dror Ladin, a senior attorney at Earthjustice\u2014the law firm that represented Sierra Club and Riders Alliance in the case\u2014said: \u201cThe Trump administration has basically asserted a right to just hack through any agreements it doesn\u2019t like.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cThis is an example of the court standing up and saying, \u2018No, that\u2019s not how this democratic process works.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump vowed<\/a> to end congestion pricing and has criticized<\/a> it since he took office.<\/p>\n

In response to questions from Inside Climate News, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Transportation wrote in an email that they \u201cdisagree with the court\u2019s ruling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese Green New Scam policies have made federally funded roads inaccessible to commuters without providing a toll-free alternative,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cWe are reviewing all legal options\u2014including an appeal\u2014with the Justice Department.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a>, Hochul called congestion pricing \u201ca once-in-a-lifetime success story,\u201d and vowed that the program was \u201chere to stay.\u201d Initially, the governor was a reluctant supporter, pausing<\/a> its implementation in 2024, several weeks before it was supposed to go into effect, to \u201cavoid added burdens to working- and middle-class families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Late that year, Hochul reversed course<\/a> and implemented the program with lower tolls. The state recently celebrated one full year with the program and touted the benefits<\/a>\u2014like less traffic, faster buses and better air quality<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One study<\/a> found that the program\u2019s implementation was associated with a 22% drop in fine particulate matter\u2014emitted by gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles as they move through the city\u2014on Manhattan blocks below 60th Street.<\/p>\n

Among the most harmful air pollutants, fine particulate matter is a nasty brew of chemicals and heavy metals<\/a> that can cause health impacts ranging from childhood asthma to cancer and heart disease. According to city data<\/a>, long-term exposure contributes to an estimated 2,000 premature deaths a year in New York City, or 1 in 25 deaths there.<\/p>\n

Congestion pricing reduces the number of cars entering downtown Manhattan, one of the city\u2019s busiest areas, and redirects funds to the state-run agency that oversees mass transit, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which has long struggled financially<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The tolls will help fund improvements to mass transit\u2014some of which will further reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and harmful pollutants. A January report<\/a> from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the program would help it purchase 460 electric buses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A report<\/a> by the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, an organization that advocates for communities burdened by environmental problems, found that 75% of New York City bus depots were located in communities of color.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision by the judge clearly shows that congestion pricing is legal,\u201d said Kevin Garcia, the senior transportation planner for the alliance, which has long supported the program. \u201cThis means that our communities are guaranteed the system-wide improvements that they deserve and have long been deprived of for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last April, a memo<\/a> written by the federal government\u2019s lawyers, which detailed the weaknesses of the administration\u2019s case, was accidentally inserted into court documents. Originally reported by Streetsblog<\/a>, the memo said that there was \u201cconsiderable litigation risk\u201d in defending the arguments that the transportation secretary made in his February 2025 letter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[50496,9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-158837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-byline-external","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-ny","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-nyc-headlines","13":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}