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Should drivers get refunds for NYC congestion tolls? NJ Rep. Gottheimer thinks so.
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Feb 20, 2025
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Stephen Nessen/Gothamist
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Feb 20, 2025
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U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey says the MTA should start giving drivers congestion pricing refunds.
A day after President Donald Trump moved to kill the agency’s congestion tolls, Gottheimer argued the MTA is no longer permitted to collect tolls on drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street — and demanded restitution. He said Gov. Kathy Hochul’s directive for the MTA to continue to collect the tolls pending a federal court order “outrageous.”
“If New York insists on keeping the cameras in place, they should be prepared to reimburse every Jersey commuter for the tolls they’re paying. Hardworking Jersey families should not be forced to continue to bail out the MTA’s woeful and legendary mismanagement,” Gottheimer, a Democrat, wrote in a statement on Thursday.
The MTA sued the Trump administration less than an hour after Gov. Kathy Hochul received a letter from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announcing he was revoking federal approval of the tolls. In the letter, Duffy noted that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy was among the fierce critics of congestion pricing.
During a fiery news conference on Wednesday, Hochul said Garden State drivers are “not forced to come here.”
"I personally would like to have all the New York teams playing in New York," Hochul quipped. "I'm not proposing that the federal government go annex the Meadowlands."
The comments drew outrage from Gottheimer.
“Gov. Hochul owes an apology to hardworking Jersey commuters for claiming they are ‘not forced’ to come to New York,” Gottheimer continued in his statement.
The MTA argues in its lawsuit that the U.S. Department of Transportation does not have the legal authority to unilaterally stop congestion pricing. But if a judge does side with the feds and decides to halt the tolls, drivers would have little chance at a refund, said New York-based attorney Arthur Schwartz.
Schwartz, who represents Transport Workers Union Local 100, accused Gottheimer of trying to score political points off a weak legal argument.
“Any representative from New Jersey, Staten Island, I know [Rep.] Malliotakis is saying the same kind of thing and [Rep.] Lawler is saying it up in Westchester, it’s just political B.S.,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz emphasized that the federal government and New York state came to a written agreement about approving congestion pricing.
MTA Chair Janno Lieber said on Wednesday that he was confident the program would hold up in court, noting that the tolls have already survived several other legal challenges.
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new york city
new jersey
Politics
transportation
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]
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