We'll have what they're smoking.
Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Transportation insist they will make congestion pricing go up in smoke on 4/20 — even as they agree to a longer timeline in the lawsuit brought by the MTA to fend off the feds' illegal withdrawal of approval for the toll.
During a phone call on Wednesday with federal Judge Lewis Liman, a lawyer for the federal government said that Duffy's recent long tweet setting an April 20 deadline for New York to end the toll remains in effect — and threatened vague, undefined consequences if state leaders ignore it ... as they have said they will.
"The Department of Transportation maintains the position that New York City should stop charging tolls by April 20," said Dominika Tarczynska, an attorney for the U.S. DOT. "The secretary, however, is still evaluating, what DOT's options are if New York City does not comply."
(As a point of fact, New York City does not charge the congestion pricing tolls, the MTA, a state agency, does. So one could say that the U.S. DOT's demand has already been met.)
Liman asked Tarczynska if there was any "imminent" action the federal government planned to take to stop the toll. She said that there was not, adding ominously that "no final decision" has been made on what to do if the deadline passes and congestion pricing remains in effect.
The Trump administration's veiled threats against the MTA have emerged as the main conflict in the lawsuit — as MTA attorney Robert Kaplan spelled out in a letter to Judge Liman last Friday, which called attention to the possibility of reprisal from U.S. DOT if the MTA did not adhere to the agency's legally shaky April 20 deadline.
Kaplan specifically suggested the federal government could demand a restraining order to stop the toll, or even take extralegal actions like withholding federal dollars owed to the MTA or New York, which would then require even more legal maneuvering on the Empire State's part.
Roberta Kaplan even noted that if the US DOT retaliates after the 4/20 deadline that the MTA will have to sue the government over a whole other thing
— Good Idea Dave Bloomberg (@davecolon.bsky.social) 2025-04-08T13:46:23.180Z
After several news outlets reported that the court schedule agreed to by U.S. DOT could stretch past the summer and into the fall, the federal agency rage-tweeted that its April 20 deadline was actually very real. The agency would use every tool in at its disposal to stop the toll, the tweet said — without specifying what tools are at its disposal.
Kaplan subsequently added that tweet to the court record on Monday. The tweet showed that the federal government isn't being rational or consistent in its communication with the court and the public, Kaplan told the court.
So after all this, the US DOT yesterday tweeted about how they will NEVER respect the briefing schedule both sides agreed to, which meant Roberta Kaplan sent a letter to the judge that basically says "You honor, look at this fucking tweet"
— Good Idea Dave Bloomberg (@davecolon.bsky.social) 2025-04-09T16:21:37.660Z
Ever since Gov. Hochul responded to U.S. DOT Secretary Sean Duffy's February demand to end congestion pricing by telling him to go kick rocks, it's been clear that the federal government has very little ability to legally stop the toll.
The agreement signed in November by the MTA and Biden-era U.S. DOT to allow congestion pricing did not include any clauses allowing the federal government to unilaterally withdraw its approval, so New York kept the tolling cameras on past Duffy's first deadline of March 20.
The MTA's position is that the toll will stick around unless there was a court order saying otherwise, Kaplan said on Wednesday.
"Congestion pricing is in effect, we believe it's working, and as we said in our complaint, we don't intend to turn it off unless there's an order from your honor that we need to do so," Kaplan said on the phone call.
As the lawsuit grinds on and the federal government continues to churn out embarrassing tweets, congestion pricing is clawing its way out of the so-called Valley of Political Death: A recent poll from Data for Progress found that the toll was only slightly underwater with the public and enjoyed broad support among city Democrats and people who regularly drive into Manhattan.
Foot traffic has also increased in lower Manhattan this year compared to last year. Manhattan bus riders have enjoyed faster rides. And there have been fewer crashes south of 60th Street.
Weekday subway ridership, meanwhile, is 8.7 percent higher this month so far compared to weekday subway ridership at the start of April 2024, according to official MTA figures.
