Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
MTA seeks speedy approval from feds for NYC's congestion pricing tolls
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
and
Stephen Nessen
Published Nov 18, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
and
Stephen Nessen
Published Nov 18, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MTA officials hope the outgoing Biden administration gives New York a parting gift: the speedy approval of congestion pricing.
During a hastily rescheduled meeting on Monday, the MTA board approved a new version of the tolls, which aim to charge drivers a $9 daytime fee to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street starting Jan. 5 — 40% lower than the $15 base price the board approved back in May. The board also approved a plan to increase the toll price in 2028 and again in 2031.
The move came less than a week after Gov. Kathy Hochul lifted her “pause” on the initiative, sending transit officials into a mad dash to launch the tolls before Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Now, the fate of the program sits in the hands of the Federal Highway Administration, which must give final sign-off because many of Manhattan’s streets receive federal funding. The federal agency needs to reevaluate the MTA’s new tolling price and approve an agreement with the transit agency, as well as the city and state transportation departments, MTA chair Janno Lieber said.
“Those are the two parts that need some updating and sort of a bureaucratic process,” Lieber said during a news conference Monday.
But that kind of bureaucratic process has been unfriendly to the MTA in recent years. After state lawmakers first approved congestion pricing in 2019, federal officials under then-President Trump declined to provide guidance as to which kind of environmental review the MTA would need to undertake.
The feds finally gave that guidance two months after President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. But a year later, Lieber publicly criticized the Federal Highway Administration for belaboring the program’s approval process by asking hundreds of questions. At long last, the federal agency approved the MTA's environmental review for the tolls in June 2023, months later than New York officials originally anticipated.
The MTA board signed off on the prices for the tolls last March. At that point, the agency only required the feds to give their final thumbs up to launch the program. It took federal officials 79 days to issue that approval — which arrived two weeks after Hochul halted the launch of the tolls.
The MTA now seeks the same sign-off in a much tighter window — as Jan. 5 is just 48 days away.
"We're not contingency planning for failure,” Lieber said. “We're planning to go through the process that gets it approved, and to implement it as planned on the fifth of January."
Federal Highway Administration officials in an emailed statement said they’re working “expeditiously” to finalize the approval for the tolls.
Trump in May threatened on social media to “TERMINATE” congestion pricing during his first week back in office. But Lieber on Monday said the incoming president would have a hard time killing the tolls if they’re already up and running before inauguration day — in part because they would be approved through a longstanding federal program. He also said congestion pricing should stand up to scrutiny from several federal lawsuits that aim to halt the program.
"What we're doing is not some crazy initiative solely of the city or the state or the MTA,” Lieber said. “I am confident that if and when we receive approval from the federal government, albeit the Biden administration-era federal government, it will stand the test in the courts. Taking away an approval for a program that the feds have been operating and invite New York and other states and localities to enroll in is not something that can just be pulled away."
Still, New York Congressional Republicans have also threatened to try to kill congestion pricing through federal legislation.
With the return of the tolls, MTA officials say they can now move forward on a slate of construction projects that were supposed to be funded by congestion pricing. Those include the extension of the Second Avenue subway to East Harlem and projects to make more than 20 subway stations compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Tagged
new york city
manhattan
transportation
Politics
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
Read more
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Intoxication not a 'license' to rape: Hochul pushes to tighten law amid Cornell scandal
The state Assembly has consistently declined to advance the measures.
By
Walter Wuthmann
Published Oct 2, 2026 at 12:03 p.m. ET
NYC Parks police told a yoga teacher to leash her dog. It got ugly.
Jurors ruled against Sabrina Toner, finding that the officers did not use excessive force.
By
Samantha Max
News
NYC Parks police told a yoga teacher to leash her dog. It got ugly.
Jurors ruled against Sabrina Toner, finding that the officers did not use excessive force.
By
Samantha Max
Early Addition: There's finally stuff inside the Times Square tower where the ball drops
By
James Ramsay
NYC subway dragging death highlights an old school MTA failsafe
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
'We were the victim': Brooklyn shelter's new CEO speaks after corruption scandal
By
Ryan Kost
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .