New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy sent a letter to President Donald Trump, urging him to look at stopping New York City’s congestion pricing program. Murphy on Monday sent a letter to Trump on his first day back in the White House, urging him to “re-examine” the program while claiming that it was never “well-designed or adequately studied.” The governor pointed to Trump’s earlier pledge to eliminate the program during his first week in office.
The program officially launched on January 5, charging drivers a base fee of $9 when entering Manhattan below 60th Street. According to preliminary data released by the MTA last week, the program reduced both traffic and the number of vehicles entering Manhattan’s busiest areas during its first week. The data showed a 7.51 percent decrease in traffic and 219,000 fewer vehicles entering the tolling zone compared to the same period last year.
In the letter to Trump, Murphy reminded the president of his previous comments about the program, including campaign statements in which he described congestion pricing as “a disaster for NYC” and a “massive business killer and tax on New Yorkers, and anyone going into Manhattan.”
“For my part, I am open to congestion pricing in concept,” Murphy wrote. “But New York’s scheme has never been well-designed or adequately studied, and the lack of proper analysis was exacerbated over the last year as officials repeatedly made significant changes to the program and secretly rushed them through federal approvals.”
The MTA studied the program for years and released a 4,000-plus page environmental assessment that showed congestion pricing will lead to less traffic.
The governor’s effort marks another last-ditch attempt to halt or modify the program after a federal judge ruled last month against Murphy’s lawsuit, claiming that New York had met all necessary requirements to proceed with its launch.
Filed in July 2023, the suit alleged that the program unfairly targeted Garden State residents. It also claimed that the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) failed to conduct a full environmental review.
Murphy said he plans to amend the suit, challenging how the agencies handled NY’s alleged changes to the program over the past year.
“Soon, New Jersey plans to amend its pending lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration over congestion pricing to challenge how they handled New York’s changes to the program over the last year.”
Last June, Gov. Kathy Hochul paused congestion pricing, just weeks before its original start date, citing the impact of the pandemic and high inflation, which made the $15 base fee too expensive for New Yorkers. Sources also claimed that the governor feared the program would hurt Democrats in their upcoming House races later in the year.
Following President Trump’s election victory in November, Hochul resumed the program with a $9 base toll, 40 percent lower than the original fee. The last-minute reversal was an attempt to save the program before Trump took office.
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