Trump Transportation Secretary Duffy still weighing options over congestion pricing

Yahoo

09-04-2025

NEW YORK — Attorneys for the federal government said in court Wednesday that Trump Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is 'still evaluating his options' for what comes next if the MTA doesn't shut down congestion pricing by his Easter Sunday deadline.
'The Department of Transportation maintains the position that New York City should stop charging tolls by April 20,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominika Tarczynska said during a pretrial conference in Manhattan federal court — incorrectly identifying the city and not the state as the entity in charge of New York's congestion toll.
'The secretary, however, is still evaluating what DOT's options are if New York City does not comply,' she continued. 'There has been no final decision as to what, if anything, will occur on April 20.'
The hearing was the latest in the MTA's suit alleging that Duffy's February order that New York state end its $9 congestion toll is unconstitutional.
Tarczynska's update came days after court filings indicated the DOT's attorneys had told their MTA counterparts that they did not plan on requesting an emergency pause to the program should the transit agency ignore the arbitrary April 20 deadline to turn off the tolling announced by Duffy on social media last month.
MTA officials and Gov. Hochul have repeatedly said the toll — which is required by state law — will remain in place barring a court order to the contrary.
'We have no further updates beyond what is in (the filing),' Tarczynska said Wednesday.
But while Duffy's attorney said in federal court that he was still evaluating his options, the U.S. DOT's press staff took a different tack in the court of public opinion.
'Make no mistake,' U.S. DOT flacks wrote in an angry tweet Tuesday, 'the Trump Administration and (DOT) will not hesitate to use every tool at our disposal in response to non-compliance later this month,' insisting that 'simple agreements on judicial timelines have no bearing on the underlying merits of our case or our position.'
The tweet called press reports that the feds had reached an 'agreement' with the MTA 'a complete lie by the elitist New York liberal media.' The DOT publicists went on to accuse the MTA itself of 'spin,' claiming the agency is 'desperate to manufacture fake news to distract from the fact that their riders are getting assaulted regularly.'
But the feds' crime claims — which Duffy has repeatedly used to threaten the $2 billion a year the MTA gets from the federal government — are false.
As previously reported by The News, NYPD data shows major crimes in 2024 were at their lowest level on the subway in 15 years, excepting the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, when the system was partially shut down and ridership had cratered.
In a filing ahead of Wednesday's hearing, MTA attorney Roberta Kaplan said the DOT's tweet 'appears to disregard the whole point of asking the parties to agree on a comprehensive schedule,' a common pretrial practice.
'The MTA plaintiffs have been clear from the beginning that they will 'continue to operate the Program as required by New York law until and unless (the MTA is) directed to stop by a court order,'' Kaplan continued.
'If the federal defendants plan to take unilateral action to alter the status quo, then they should be required to let us know what they intend to do and when they intend to do it so that the parties and the Court can set an appropriate briefing schedule,' she wrote.
Judge Lewis Liman asked Tarczynska Wednesday if he was correct in understanding that 'there's no action that is imminent' from the DOT.
'No final decision has been made,' Tarczynska said.
At the end of the brief hearing Wednesday, Liman appeared to remind the parties to be on their best behavior.
'You're all professionals,' the judge said. 'I look forward to a professional experience throughout this.'
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