Janno Lieber, the top of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, had gained.
Congestion pricing, the tolling program designed to chop down site visitors in Manhattan and lift billions of {dollars} for the area’s ageing transit infrastructure, had survived an onslaught.
Makes an attempt by lawmakers to slim its scope. A wave of lawsuits from truckers, residents and highly effective neighbors in New Jersey. A final-minute pause in June by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who delayed the plan till after the presidential election.
However President Trump tried to grab away that victory on Wednesday, declaring on social media that he had unilaterally killed this system. “LONG LIVE THE KING,” he added.
In a letter, the U.S. Division of Transportation mentioned that it could revoke the federal settlement that had approved the toll, simply months after it was authorised by the Biden administration. The M.T.A. challenged the letter in federal courtroom nearly instantly and vowed to maintain the tolls on within the meantime.
For Mr. Lieber, congestion pricing’s unflagging defender, the highway forward, like the best way earlier than, stays lengthy and troublesome.
After a grueling marketing campaign to start out the toll, which solely went into impact on Jan. 5, Mr. Lieber should now assist fend off essentially the most critical risk to this system but: the native New Yorker within the Oval Workplace.
And he should defend this system in opposition to the White Home whilst he asks Washington for assist on the identical time. The M.T.A. is urgent the federal authorities for a portion of its greatest ever capital wants price range, a $68 billion plan to treatment a slew of different transit issues not funded by congestion pricing.
However the state price range isn’t due till April. First, Mr. Lieber should reassert management of the congestion toll.
“No, we’ve no contingency plan,” Mr. Lieber mentioned at a information convention Wednesday afternoon when requested about doable alternate options to congestion pricing. He added that he was assured the M.T.A. would prevail in courtroom.
Dropping the $15 billion anticipated from congestion pricing might be disastrous for the area. Subway alerts put in through the Nice Melancholy gained’t get changed, deteriorating rail bridges may halt service, plans to make extra stations accessible for riders with disabilities and oldsters with strollers shall be delayed, and over 100,000 jobs within the state which are tied to these tasks and others might be misplaced.
The perils of navigating a fraught and political submit aren’t new to Mr. Lieber, 63, a former actual property govt who beforehand led the rebuilding of the World Commerce Middle.
He has referred to as himself the patron saint of difficult tasks. Transit supporters name him the final probability to make sure the system will get in depth repairs, earlier than a cascade of deferred issues ripples throughout the subway, buses and commuter railroads.
“He has to indicate to New Yorkers that this was not in useless,” mentioned Eric Goldwyn, the director of the transportation and land use program at New York College’s Marron Institute. “You may ensure that any type of screw-up is one other arrow within the quiver of the haters.”
It wasn’t clear that Mr. Lieber would even keep in his job after congestion pricing was halted final summer time.
In June, Gov. Kathy Hochul, citing financial issues, abruptly paused this system simply weeks earlier than it was to enter impact. The choice was a shock to toll supporters, lots of whom puzzled whether or not Mr. Lieber, who grew to become the chief govt and chair of the company in 2022, would resign in protest.
However Mr. Lieber, who served as a transportation adviser to Mayor Ed Koch and President Invoice Clinton, denied that was an actual risk.
“Why didn’t I stroll away?” he requested on a latest morning from his workplace in Decrease Manhattan. “It’s so not my shtick.” The pause turned out to be short-term.
He referred to as his relationship with Ms. Hochul “very skilled.” In the meantime, Mayor Eric Adams has distanced himself from congestion pricing, calling it a state matter.
Mr. Lieber is, a number of buddies and colleagues mentioned, a canny politician, who can trudge via the bureaucratic mire with humor. For a civil servant, they mentioned, he’s unusually optimistic.
In 2017, Gov. Andrew Cuomo employed Mr. Lieber away from a profitable job at Silverstein Properties to turn out to be the M.T.A.’s head of improvement tasks. His job could not pay in addition to personal improvement, however Mr. Lieber was all the time drawn to public service, colleagues mentioned.
His tenure was quickly examined by the governor’s resignation over a sexual harassment scandal, however in 2022, he was appointed by Mr. Cuomo’s successor, Ms. Hochul, to run the company. Via the tumult, colleagues mentioned, he targeted on the work, stored a cool head.
Dan Doctoroff, a former deputy mayor and a longtime good friend, mentioned Mr. Lieber had referred to as him on the day that Ms. Hochul paused congestion pricing, pissed off however calm. He requested Mr. Doctoroff to get her to rethink.
His endurance paid off. Days after the presidential election, Ms. Hochul revived the toll, which is charged on autos coming into Manhattan beneath sixtieth Avenue. Most drivers pay $9, down from the initially deliberate $15.
Mr. Lieber mentioned he wouldn’t take credit score for Ms. Hochul’s “evolution” on the difficulty but additionally wouldn’t speculate on whether or not the pause had been designed to assist Democrats’ odds within the election.
Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy group that has at occasions been at odds with the M.T.A., mentioned Mr. Lieber may someday be considered the following Richard Ravitch, the previous M.T.A. chairman who’s broadly credited with rescuing the subway from monetary spoil within the Nineteen Seventies and ’80s.
However Mr. Lieber can even rub individuals the flawed approach.
At a time when consolidating assist for congestion pricing is essential, John Samuelsen, the worldwide president of the Transport Staff Union, mentioned Mr. Lieber would discover few new buddies in Washington.
“He may be essentially the most narcissistic particular person I’ve ever met in my life,” mentioned Mr. Samuelsen, who negotiates on behalf of M.T.A. workers and has confronted off with Mr. Lieber on the bargaining desk. “He thought he was smarter than everyone within the room.”
Early outcomes from congestion pricing have been promising.
Within the first week of February, weekday site visitors throughout the zone was down 9 p.c in contrast with the identical time final yr, in accordance with M.T.A. knowledge.
On a mean weekday through the first three weeks of the toll, drivers shaved quarter-hour off the time it took to cross city on thirty fourth Avenue, a visit of lower than two miles that took 36 minutes a yr earlier.
Regardless of fears that this system may thrust back guests, foot site visitors within the space has elevated for the reason that toll started, in accordance with town’s Financial Growth Company. Via Jan. 31, 35.8 million pedestrians entered enterprise districts within the zone, almost 5 p.c greater than in the identical interval final yr — a sooner price of progress than in enterprise districts outdoors the zone.
Mr. Lieber additionally often factors to the outcomes of a recent poll that discovered that almost six in 10 New York Metropolis voters imagine town ought to preserve the toll. He mentioned he expects these numbers to enhance as extra drivers come to understand sooner commutes.
Authorized consultants mentioned Mr. Trump didn’t have the authority to unilaterally finish the toll, however there are different methods through which he can exert affect over the plan.
Marc Molinaro, a Republican from New York and a vocal critic of each the M.T.A. and congestion pricing, is anticipated to go the Federal Transit Administration. The company doesn’t instantly management the destiny of the toll, nevertheless it distributes billions of {dollars} a yr in grants to mass transit tasks, a big share of which New York depends on.
Mr. Molinaro’s workplace declined to touch upon how the company may impede congestion pricing, however transit consultants mentioned the division may delay reimbursing New York for main capital tasks, just like the enlargement of the Second Avenue subway line, as a solution to exert affect.
Mr. Lieber mentioned that it was too early to debate the opposite avenues that Mr. Trump may pursue however added that he was assured within the authorized case to maintain the toll.
Within the meantime, a part of his mission shall be to show that the M.T.A. can responsibly use the income raised via congestion pricing.
The M.T.A. mentioned it misplaced roughly $800 million to fare and toll evasion in 2024, a sum that critics name proof of the company’s mismanagement. However Mr. Lieber mentioned efforts to fight it, together with hiring extra guards to watch subway gates and putting in boundaries at turnstiles, are working. Subway fare evasion fell 26 p.c within the second half of the yr, in accordance with company knowledge.
The M.T.A. mentioned it had saved $400 million final yr by consolidating prices, primarily in its subway and bus division, whereas rising service.
“I don’t suppose it’s acceptable that individuals prefer to make their whole dialogue of the M.T.A. about how ‘you guys suck, and also you waste cash,’” he mentioned. “There are all the time going to be episodes and pockets of shortcomings, however we’re going to maintain at it.”
The challenges for Mr. Lieber had been already obvious earlier this month, when he traveled to Albany to influence lawmakers to fund the M.T.A.’s subsequent capital plan.
The company has recognized funding for under about half of the $68 billion it’s searching for over the following 5 years. As a part of the plan, Mr. Lieber is asking the federal authorities for $14 billion, which some fiscal consultants thought was unrealistic even earlier than the rising tensions with Washington.
Congestion pricing is designed to fund tasks within the company’s earlier five-year capital plan, not the proposed new one, that means that any interruption to the tolls may throw the following price range into disarray.
If the president can’t be reasoned with, Mr. Lieber mentioned, he’s nonetheless assured he’ll discover a solution to save the toll, and the billions of {dollars} in income it represents.
“This isn’t the primary time a president has mentioned ‘drop useless’ to New York,” he mentioned.
