The groups filed to join the MTA’s lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York as interveners, raising two new claims. While the MTA’s lawsuit focuses on the Trump administration’s unlawful reneging on the agreement authorizing congestion pricing, the new lawsuit focuses on the flawed legal basis that Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy put forward in his letter.

In its first month of operation, the first-in-the-nation program has raised $48.6 million dollars in month-one and stands to raise billions for improvements on New York City’s aging subway and bus systems that serves approximately 5 million people daily. Reports show the program has significantly reduced traffic and congestion, decreased travel times, while improving speeds for buses and emergency vehicles.

On Feb. 19, 2025, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul purporting to “terminate” the agreement authorizing the Congestion Pricing program. Sec. Duffy claimed that he had discovered an unwritten restriction in federal law, a secret loophole establishing that the Congestion Pricing Program had never been lawfully authorized to begin with.

As the Riders Alliance and Sierra Club lawsuit contend, Sec. Duffy’s claims are directly contradicted by the record. The letter states that federal law has never contemplated “cordon pricing” as a permissible congestion pricing strategy, except where toll-free options are available to drivers. In fact, cordon pricing has for decades been recognized by the Federal Highway Administration as a form of congestion pricing, and it authorized cordon pricing projects more than twenty years ago. The inescapable inference is that Sec. Duffy landed on a convenient legal pretext so that the administration could do what it really wanted: “terminate” congestion pricing as fast as possible. But as the lawsuit explains, in its haste the administration made serious mistakes that doom its effort.

“After a decade of organizing, everyday New Yorkers won congestion relief and we’ll defend it with everything we have,” said Riders Alliance Executive Director Betsy Plum. “After working closely with Governor Kathy Hochul, the MTA and US DOT to start the program, a vengeful federal government now leaves us no choice but to go to court. We’re filing today’s case because congestion relief is saving us time on buses, fixing our aging subways, and improving our health. We can’t afford to go back. There is no way to make traffic gridlock great again.”

“New Yorkers have the right to improve the environment where they live while making much-needed improvements to the city’s public transportation system. After two months of operation, it’s clear that congestion pricing is succeeding: traffic is moving faster, vehicle pollution is down, and the added revenue is allowing the MTA to make essential improvements to the transit system. We have every intention of keeping it, and we are ready to defend it.” – Sierra Club New York City Group Transportation Chair Wayne Arden

The Congestion Pricing program went live in NYC’s Central Business District on January 5, 2025, where early economic data shows improvements in markers like Broadway attendance and retail sales which reports show have been $900 million higher in January 2025 compared to the same period last year. Additionally, with less vehicles on the road, air quality improvements follow. Traffic fumes are responsible for more than 1,000 premature deaths in the city annually and are linked to illnesses like asthma and heart disease.

During a previous New York State-based legal challenge, Earthjustice and clients reached a settlement with New York State and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)/Triborough to enact the program after an “indefinite pause” placed by NY Gov. Hochul.