The battle over a $9 toll between New Jersey and New York is expected to take center lane again this month.
The controversy over the Big Apple’s congestion pricing scheme that went into effect on Jan.5, 2025, and charges a $9 toll on anyone commuting from North, Central, or South Jersey into Manhattan south of 60th Street isn’t petering out anytime soon.
Just the opposite.
Gloria M. Shepherd, Executive Director of the Federal Highway Administration, offered up March 21, 2025, as the date President Trump wants the program terminated.
Shepherd addressed a letter to two New York State and City Department of Transportation Commissioners and the President of Bridges and Tunnels for the MTA, which manages the tolls, of the looming deadline.
“In order to provide NYSDOT and its project sponsors time to terminate operations of this pilot project in an orderly manner, this rescission of approval and termination of the November 21, 2024, Agreement will be effective on March 21, 2025,” wrote Shepherd in a Feb. 20 letter. “Accordingly, NYSDOT and its project sponsors must cease the collection of tolls on Federal-aid highways in New York’s Central Business District Tolling Program by March 21, 2025.”
The day before, on Feb. 19, the Federal Highway Administration – ordered by the newly elected Republican Trump Administration – rescinded the so-called Value Pricing Pilot Program (VPPP) agreement that authorized New York’s congestion pricing scheme to go into effect in January 2025.
New Jersey’s incumbent Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy praised the federal order. “I want to thank President Trump and [Transportation] Secretary [Sean] Duffy for their efforts to halt the current congestion pricing program in Manhattan’s Central Business District,” Murphy said in a statement.
“While I have consistently expressed openness to a form of congestion pricing that meaningfully protects the environment and does not unfairly burden hardworking New Jersey commuters, the current program lines the MTA’s pockets at the expense of New Jerseyans.”
But New York’s MTA filed a lawsuit challenging the federal order immediately, while Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul condemned it. Hochul curtly told President Trump that she will see him in court for the next round.
“We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king,” Hochul said, referencing a tweet by Trump in which he proclaimed, “Congestion pricing in Manhattan was dead and long live the King.”
New York’s congestion pricing plan became the first in the nation when it took effect on Jan. 5 this year. Under the program, a $9 toll is charged on drivers entering Manhattan’s busiest streets to finance mass transit repairs by the MTA.
In his Feb. 19 letter to New York’s Gov. Hochul, Transportation Secretary Duffy outlined Trump’s objections to the program – including its presumed cost to working-class families, using toll revenue for transit upgrades, and the program’s reach. Duffy said federal officials would contact New York officials to “discuss the orderly cessation of toll operations, essentially rescinding the November FHA approval to allow congestion pricing to start in January.
But Hochul and MTA officials maintain that they do not intend to halt toll collection on March 21, or any other date, without a court order.
In a separate, but related matter, the New Jersey pilot program, NJ RISE, is hoping to get mileage out of the ongoing brouhaha between New Jersey and New York.
NJ RISE’s marketing program went into high gear in January, about a week after congestion pricing kicked in. NJ RISE, in its pilot year, is administered by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
The pilot program encourages Manhattan-based companies to open satellite offices or branches throughout the Garden State to save their New Jersey employees the hassle of commuting to New York and still pay New Jersey income taxes.
NJ RISE banners and posters in Manhattan, as well as online digital ads, question the daily New Jersey to New York commuting grind and tease the possibility of having an alternative.
“New Jersey is always happy to welcome new businesses to the state to support job creation and increased economic activity throughout communities,” Christopher Flores, spokesman for the NJDEA, said in an email to The Sun Papers.
“The NJEDA will continue to promote NJ RISE, which will help ease the financial burden on commuters and improve the quality of life for New Jerseyans.”
