The controversy over congestion pricing continues as local climate and transit advocates filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to save the tolling program in Manhattan.
The Sierra Club, an environmental organization, and the Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy group, are suing the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) in a U.S. District Court for revoking their approval for NYC’s congestion pricing program on Feb. 19, less than two months after its launch.
The legal complaint says that the department made “serious legal mistakes” in its attempt to terminate the program. The lawsuit also involved USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy’s claim that there is no free entry into the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ).
The lawsuit was filed after the MTA’s suit in federal court on Feb. 19.
The Sierra Club and Riders Alliance filed to intervene in the MTA’s lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, raising two new claims.
“While the MTA’s lawsuit focuses on the Trump administration’s unlawful reneging on the agreement authorizing congestion pricing, the new lawsuit focuses on the flawed legal basis that Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy put forward in his letter,” a press release from Earthjustice, the nonprofit law group handling the suit, states.
Active since Jan. 5 of this year, congestion pricing has shown early signs of success. According to the MTA, the tolls have brought in $48.6 million during January alone. It also saw a 7.5% reduction in traffic within the CRZ by the third week in the same month.
Dror Ladin, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, said the Trump administration acted hastily in its attempt to end the program.
“In its rush to end congestion pricing, the Trump administration is selling a flimsy excuse to try and make an end run around what the laws require,” Ladin said. “But the administration’s explanations don’t add up, and we’re confident that that the courts are going to see through them just as easily as most New Yorkers do.”
Riders Alliance executive director Betsy Plum said her organization is prepared to defend the program.
“After working closely with Gov. Kathy Hochul, the MTA and USDOT to start the program, a vengeful federal government now leaves us no choice but to go to court,” she said. “We’re filing today’s case because congestion relief is saving us time on buses, fixing our aging subways, and improving our health. We can’t afford to go back. There is no way to make traffic gridlock great again.”
In a statement on Feb. 19, Duffy called congestion pricing a “slap in the face” to working-class Americans and small business owners.
“Commuters using the highway system to enter New York City have already financed the construction and improvement of these highways through the payment of gas taxes and other taxes,” he said. “But now the toll program leaves drivers without any free highway alternative, and instead, takes more money from working people to pay for a transit system and not highways.”
Meanwhile, Wayne Adren, Sierra Club NYC group transportation chair, said congestion pricing has environmental benefits.
“New Yorkers have the right to improve the environment where they live while making much-needed improvements to the city’s public transportation system,” he said. “After two months of operation, it’s clear that congestion pricing is succeeding: traffic is moving faster, vehicle pollution is down, and the added revenue is allowing the MTA to make essential improvements to the transit system. We have every intention of keeping it, and we are ready to defend it.”
Congestion pricing is in operation in NYC, and drivers will continue to be tolled upon entering the CRZ, which is located south of 60th Street, as the lawsuits play out in court.
