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By: Ilana Siyance
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy appealed to United States President Donald J. Trump to nix the newly implemented congestion pricing toll, which commuters from the Garden State now pay to enter Midtown Manhattan. “Today I sent a letter to President Trump urging his Administration to reexamine New York’s congestion pricing scheme,” Gov. Murphy shared on Twitter. “Congestion pricing is a disaster for New Jersey commuters and must receive the close look it deserves from the federal government.”
On Monday, shortly after President Trump was sworn in, Gov. Murphy sent him a letter. “As you begin your second term as president, I welcome any opportunity to work with you and your administration where we can find common ground,” Murphy, a Democrat, wrote in the letter to the Republican President. “One area where we believe our priorities align is congestion pricing,” Murphy wrote.
As reported by the NY Post, Gov. Murphy wrote in the letter that Gov. Kathy Hochul and NY officials are abusing NJ drivers by penalizing them with a congestion fee to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street. He noted that this toll gets coupled in addition to the other tolls they already pay to enter the business district from the Port Authority of NY’s Hudson River crossings to enter Manhattan. “New York’s scheme has never been well designed or adequately studied,” Gov. Murphy said. “The resulting congestion pricing plan is a disaster for working- and middle-class New Jersey commuters who need or want to visit lower Manhattan and now need to pay a big fee on top of the bridge and tunnel fees they already pay.”
Murphy reminded President Trump of his campaign promise. During the 2024 campaign, Trump had called the congestion pricing plan a “disaster”, a “massive business killer,” “the worst plan in the history of womankind”, and had promised to “TERMINATE congestion pricing in my FIRST WEEK BACK in office!!!” Trump even said that the Biden administration’s Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration “railroaded” approvals for congestion pricing before the administration change, knowing that Trump was an opponent of the plan and would have blocked it.
On January 5th, New York City’s controversial congestion pricing program was put into action, charging vehicles $9, during peak weekday hours. Trucks and buses pay $14 to $21 during peak hours. On weekends, or weeknights after 9 pm, the toll lowers to $2.25 for cars, or $3.60 to $5.40 for trucks and buses. The toll aims to ease traffic by luring people out of their cars and onto mass transit, and to reduce emissions, while also raising much-needed funds for the MTA’s subway expansions.
Per the Post, New Jersey motorists pay the full $9 congestion fee if they’re crossing into NY on the George Washington Bridge, and the three Staten Island bridges — the Bayonne, Goethals and Outerbridge Crossing. If, however, they cross the Hudson into NY via the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, they pay a $6 fee on top of existing tolls and get a $3 credit. Murphy highlighted that Jersey communities also now have to deal with new traffic patterns rerouted to their areas, in a bid to circumvent the new toll.
