Friday’s Headlines: Fake Deadline Extended Edition

It’s March 21! It’s the first day of spring and, if you’re President Trump, it was supposed to be the last day of congestion pricing.

Remember how the Trump administration ordered the MTA to turn off its tolling cameras today? Yeah, well, that was always a fake deadline because the cameras are on — thanks to last year’s approval from the same agency that has since withdrawn said approval — and the MTA says it will only abide by a court order … which certainly isn’t coming today.

Especially since by afternoon on Thursday, U.S. DOT Sec. Sean Duffy blinked, and posted on X that he had given Gov. Hochul another 30 days to sit in a corner and think about what she’s done (the Post, Gothamist, the Times and the News covered it, but it more or less speaks for itself):

The extension unleashed lots of fun, including this take from the Micromobility subreddit:

The fun will continue today as Gov. Hochul will ride a city bus to get to a rally at 10:15 a.m. where she will, according to her office, “Update New Yorkers on the Massive Success of Congestion Pricing.”

And later in the day, Transportation Alternatives will have a dance party — aka a “Foot Traffic Jam” — under the toll cameras in Columbus Circle. Join them at 5:30 p.m.

But now that Sec. Duffy has given congestion pricing a 30-day reprieve, we hope he’ll use the time to research why he really shouldn’t fuck with the toll … because it is working. Here are some of the many datapoints that prove it:

• First and foremost, we received the latest data from TomTom, the mapping company. You can see it all here, Secretary, but the TL;DR is that comparing Jan. 1 to March 15, the “congestion level” of the tolling zone is down 31 percent and travel speeds are up 10 percent.
• So it’s no wonder that MTA buses are moving much faster through the congestion relief zone (Streetsblog).
• And that applies to school buses, too. (Streetsblog)
• Foot traffic (that is to say, customer traffic) is up. (Streetsblog).
• In a related story from Streetsblog, the MTA says that nearly $1 billion more was spent in the period after congestion pricing started than the same period last year.
• The dreaded spillover traffic — the idea that drivers would drive around Midtown and then congest streets in the boroughs or Jersey — isn’t happening. (Streetsblog times two)
• And it’s raising the money that the MTA said it would raise. (The City, NY Times)
• No wonder former Mayor Mike Bloomberg thinks it’s good for the entire country. (Bloomberg)
• It’s helping the very working-class New Yorkers that Trump and Duffy say they want to help. (Vox)
• Crashes are down in the zone… (Streetsblog times two)
• … And that’s because there are so many fewer cars entering the area. (Streetsblog, NY Times)
• Broadway ticket sales are definitely not slumping! (Streetsblog)
• And support for the toll is rising … especially among drivers, as they can see the benefit. (Streetsblog)

Meanwhile, of course, the Post is covering so many angles to defeat congestion pricing that sometimes the paper is twisting itself into a pretzel. And, speaking of the tolls, New Jersey’s anti-congestion pricing lawyer, Randy Mastro, just became a deputy mayor to strange bedfellow Eric Adams, the Daily News, the Post, the Times reported.

In other news:

• Crime is down in the subway, no matter what Sean Duffy says. (NY Post)
• As Streetsblog also reported, the MTA money has to come from somewhere. (Gothamist)
• Whaddya know? Cybertrucks stink. (Car Scoops)
• Don’t miss the DOT’s last few Bronx Harlem River Greenway sessions. Click here for the calendar.
• Speaking of DOT, a coalition of good government, transportation, biking and labor groups is demanding that the city get busy hiring staff to make roadways safer. Read the groups’ letter here.