Hochul is going to be moving to Florida shortly. The Dark Lord is taking an axe to her public approval ratings. I can't watch. This is too disturbing.
NYC workers, commuters rejoice over Trump’s axing of congestion pricing toll: ‘I’m ecstatic’
By Haley Brown, Larry Celona, Desheania Andrews and Natalie O'Neill, NY Post
Published Feb. 19, 2025, 5:40 p.m. ET
They finally caught a brake.
Working class New Yorkers rejoiced Wednesday that congestion pricing was axed by the Trump administration — saying the much-loathed driving toll was a big financial burden.
“I’m ecstatic,” said Paul Belli, who owns a plumbing business in Brooklyn. “Nobody needs this. Everyone has high inflation they’re dealing with already.”
Belli said he has “spent thousands” on the toll since the controversial fee to drive into Manhattan below 60th Street went into effect six weeks ago — in part because plumbers have on-the-job equipment that require them to drive to work.
“My customers are going to be very happy because now I can stop charging them for the congestion pricing [adjustments],” Belli said. “Everyone’s been hurting through this whole thing.”
The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration announced Wednesday it had terminated approval of the program, which aimed to reduce traffic and travel time while raising billions for the MTA.
The transit agency quickly responded by suing to keep the toll in place.
The scheme, which went into effect Jan. 5, irked many blue collar folks — who said they need vehicles for their jobs, or that taking public transit doubles their commuting time.
“We feel relieved. At the end of the day, we can’t keep pushing the burden to small business,” said Larry Zogby, who owns a small trucking company in Queens.
“I’ve been fighting this for three years,” he said of the move to pull the plug on the program.
“It’s ridiculous to pay to go to work in the city — not to have fun or go shopping — but to go to work,” said Paul Caminiti, a teacher who commutes from Staten Island to Manhattan.
He said it would take him three hours round-trip to commute by bus while driving takes an hour and 20 minutes.
The first-in-the-nation congestion pricing program charges drivers in Manhattan below 60th Street a $9 base toll — but the fee can increase to up to $27 when crossing by tunnel or some bridges with no E-ZPass.
Allison Rivera, 42, who works in a medical office in Manhattan said she’s been forking over $45 a week just to get to her job.
“Finally,” she said of the scrapped toll. “It was so unfair to pay an extra $9 to get to work [daily].”
Ricky Stevens, 58, who works in a deli in the East Village added, “I didn’t vote for Trump, but he’s doing more for New Yorkers than our governor. Isn’t that sad?”
Firefighters, cops and other ordinary workers have said for months they simply can’t afford the toll, which was approved as part of a 2019 state law and later backed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“As we’ve said from the beginning, police officers shouldn’t be forced to dig deeper into their own pockets just to report for duty,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said in a statement Wednesday. “The congestion tax is just one more factor driving talented police officers away from the NYPD at a time when we can least afford it.”
“We welcome any change that will reduce the burden on our members,” he said.
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