“Public transit is the lifeblood of New York City and critical to our economic future — as a New Yorker, like President Trump, knows very well.
“Since this first-in-the-nation program took effect last month, congestion has dropped dramatically and commuters are getting to work faster than ever. Broadway shows are selling out and foot traffic to local businesses is spiking. School buses are getting kids to class on time, and yellow cab trips increased by 10 percent. Transit ridership is up, drivers are having a better experience, and support for this program is growing every day.
“We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king. The MTA has initiated legal proceedings in the Southern District of New York to preserve this critical program. We’ll see you in court.”
Good afternoon. I’m joined here today by Janno Lieber, the Chairman and CEO of the MTA, and my counsel, Brian Mahanna.
At 1:01 p.m. today, The U.S. Department of Transportation emailed us a letter from Secretary Duffy, announcing their attempt to end the congestion pricing program in the State of New York.
At 1:58 p.m., President Donald Trump tweeted, “Long live the king.” I’m here to say, New York hasn’t labored under a king in over 250 years and we sure as hell are not going to start now.
The streets of this city, where battles were fought; we stood up to a king. And we won then. And in case you don’t know New Yorkers, when we’re in a fight, we do not back down. Not now, not ever. Because, who are we fighting for here? We’re fighting for our residents, our commuters, our riders, our drivers, our emergency personnel. Life has gotten better for those who have asthma. People with illness. That’s who we’re fighting for.
And the six million people who use the MTA to get to their jobs and their lives and to their doctorate: nurses, doctors, EMTs and all those that need to get to their jobs in a reliable way, they’re now going to be affected.
I also have to raise a question. They look at the pretext for this rejection — and we have a lot of legal reasons why we know we’re going to be victorious — but they actually cited the will of New Jersey: “New Jersey didn’t want this.” Ignoring the will of the people who live here, their elected leaders in Albany, and all of a sudden, the Trump Administration is citing, “New Jersey isn’t happy.” I’ll talk about that later. But here’s what I want to also say.
I don’t care if you love congestion pricing or hate it. This is an attack on our sovereign identity, our independence from Washington. And we are a nation of states. This is what we fought for. This is what people like Alexander Hamilton and others fought for: To set up a system where we are not subservient to a king or anyone else out of Washington. So this is the fight we’re in. It’s all about our sovereignty.
And I spoke to the President many times. In a reasonable way. In a calm way. You’re a New Yorker. You know how essential it is to have safe, reliable public transit, or else this system shuts down. Our economy shuts down. The nation’s economy could shut down. That’s how essential we are, and one would think he would know that.
And then you have others involved. It feels like — you know what it feels like? The commuters of our city and our region are now the roadkill on Donald Trump’s revenge tour against New York.
And I have to say this to Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy: It’s not the real world, Sean. It’s real life for New Yorkers. And don’t you forget that. We’re in fight mode within seconds of us getting this notification. Our MTA was prepared. We knew this could come and filed a lawsuit within minutes. I’m very confident we will be successful. And I also want to say, the cameras are staying on. We are keeping the cameras on. Lights, cameras, action. They’re staying on.
Last thing I’ll say: If in some world they are successful, the next time you’re stuck in traffic, the next time your train is delayed, the next time you’re in a flooded station because infrastructure repairs were not made, I want you to think of this. Think about this: Next time you’re stuck in traffic, we know where the blame goes. Okay.
We have my top ten reasons why congestion pricing is working. But as someone who’s worked so hard, I want to let Janno Lieber tell you why we believe this program is working and why it’s essential. Then we will take any questions and my counsel can explain our legal strategy as well.
Thank you very much.
