NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday ordered a halt to congestion pricing tolls in New York City, which thin traffic and fund mass transit by making people pay to drive into Manhattan’s core.
Launched on Jan. 5, the city’s system uses license plate readers to impose a $9 toll on most vehicles entering Manhattan neighborhoods south of Central Park. In its early days, transit officials said the toll has brought modest but measurable traffic reductions.
The federal government has rescinded its approval of the program, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced Wednesday, calling the toll’s financial burden “a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners.”
The Federal Highway Administration will work with the state on an “orderly termination of the tolls,” according to the statement.
Within minutes of the announcement, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency that runs the New York City subway and other public transit, filed a federal lawsuit to keep congestion pricing alive.