MTA says 82,000 fewer cars per day in Manhattan congestion zone as federal deadline looms

Another federal deadline is approaching this Sunday for New York to take down congestion pricing, but MTA officials say the program is here to stay — offering new data showing a 13% reduction in cars in Manhattan’s toll zone that they say shows the program is working.

After Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials blew off the Trump administration’s March 20 deadline to cease charging vehicles for driving at or below 60th Street in Manhattan, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Patrick Duffy gave the MTA a 30-day extension, with the warning that "continued noncompliance will not be taken lightly."

Duffy in February rescinded the Biden administration’s approval for congestion pricing. The MTA sued in response, arguing that the Trump administration could not unilaterally terminate the program. With the matter tied up in courts, MTA officials have said they won’t take down the tolls unless ordered to do so by a judge.

"We are confident about our position. As we’ve said many times, we are in the right. We have full authorization from the federal government," MTA Construction and Development President Jamie Torres-Springer said at a Thursday news conference in Queens, where he also trumpeted the success of congestion pricing.

New data released by the MTA shows that 82,000 fewer cars a day entered Manhattan’s congestion relief zone in March as compared with the historical average for the month — a reduction of 13%. That’s more than the 8% reduction when the tolls started in January.

For the full month of March, there was a reduction of 2,544,945 cars in the toll zone below 60th Street in Manhattan as compared with the historical average, according to the MTA.

"Congestion pricing is working. It’s an extraordinary success ... It is a generational change. Traffic is down. Quality of life is up all across the city," Torres-Springer said.

Torres said both parties in the lawsuit have agreed to a court schedule that MTA officials have suggested would guarantee that the tolls stay in place until October at the earliest.

"We are going to observe that timeline," Torres-Springer said. "In the meantime, the cameras are staying on."

In an April 8 post on X, Duffy said, regardless of the court schedule, his April 20 deadline for the MTA to stop charging the tolls "has not changed."

"The Trump Administration ... will not hesitate to use every tool at our disposal in response to noncompliance later this month," Duffy wrote in his post.

Without specifying the consequences for not abiding by the deadline, Duffy has said the federal government could withhold transit funding from New York. The MTA receives about $2.5 billion in federal funding annually, although transit officials have pointed out that much of it is formula-based, and not at the discretion of the Trump administration.

Columbia Law School professor Michael Gerrard said that Sunday will mark "another meaningless deadline" by the Trump administration, which has not sought a court order to force the MTA to stop charging the tolls.

"If the federal government seriously wanted the tolls to shut down Sunday, they’d jump into court for it," Gerrard said. "If the federal government does withhold funding or carry out any other threats, the legality of those actions, too, will also be in court quite promptly."

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.