Donald Trump wants New York to “kill” congestion pricing and “get rid of the bike lanes”, claiming that reduced traffic is bad for business and a sign that “people can’t come into” the city.
Speaking to the New York Post, the newly elected president claimed “no one’s coming to the city” because of “horrible” congestion pricing that is “destructive to New York”, as well as cycling infrastructure which Trump called “so bad”.
“They should get rid of the bike lanes and the sidewalks in the middle of the street,” he said. “They’re so bad. They’re dangerous. These [electric] bikes go at 20 miles an hour. They’re whacking people.”
Speaking about the congestion pricing — which came into effect last month and sees drivers charged for entering Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone, the daily price for car drivers with an E-ZPass $9 during peak hours ($13.50 without E-ZPass) — Trump accused the policy of being “destructive to New York”.
“I think it’s really horrible,” he said, expressing a desire to meet with New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, to make a deal about ending the charge. Trump added that “out of respect” he would not divulge details from two previous phone conversations about the policy.
“I think it’s really horrible, but I want to discuss it with her at this point,” he continued. “If I decide to do it, I will be able to kill it off in Washington through the Department of Transportation. It’s a lot of power.
“Traffic is way down because people can’t come into Manhattan and it’s only going to get worse. People don’t know about it until they get the bill.”
While Gov. Hochul notes the policy has reduced traffic, Trump claims this is not a good thing and means “no one’s coming to the city”.
The president also claimed that rather than encouraging people to use public transport by making vehicle journeys more expensive, the city would be better served focusing “on safety and cleanliness in the subway” and cited cases of users being pushed onto the tracks by “thugs”.
“Cleanliness and efficiency are good but they gotta get tough on the thugs. They can’t be nice,” he said.
Trump’s history with cycling of course began back in the late 80s when he was backing bike racing as a business concern, sponsoring the Tour de Trump in the US. At the time he said he believed the race could “rival the Tour de France”, but admitted he hadn’t ridden a bike since he “was seven or eight years old”.
Since his entry to politics cycling has featured perhaps most prominently during interview attacks on the former president, Joe Biden, whose cycling hobby and well-reported crashes were a constant source of entertainment for Fox News and Republicans at the start of this decade.
Back in 2015, while establishing himself as the Republican candidate before his first stint as president, Trump criticised US Secretary of State John Kerry for breaking his leg in a cycling crash during Iran nuclear talks in Switzerland.
“He goes into a bicycle race at 73 or 74 years old,” Trump said, although the facts were that Kerry, then aged 71, was not competing in a bike race when he crashed. “He falls, breaks his leg. I don’t want him on a bicycle during nuclear negotiations. I swear to you, I will never enter a bicycle race if I’m president.”
A couple of years later there was a suggestion Trump’s presidency could be good news for bike couriers, the politician addressing reports of Russian hacking by saying: “No computer is safe. It’s very important, if you have something really important, write it out and have it delivered by courier.”
Fox 5 News even interviewed a New York City bicycle courier who rides an average of 50 miles a day for courier business Cyclehawk delivering packages for clients including banks, fashion agencies and architects. The noise around that cycling positivity died very quickly, however, and eight years on Trump has his sights firmly set on the city’s cycle lanes.
27 thoughts on ““They’re so bad”: Donald Trump promises to scrap “dangerous” New York bike lanes and “kill” congestion charge”
This would be the Trump who –
This would be the Trump who – while currently resident in Washington DC – is legally a resident of Florida, after leaving New York because too many people hated him there…
I’m not sure what authority
I’m not sure what authority Trump has to remove cycle lanes in New York. Or maybe he’s going to get Elon to send some goons to paint over them.
This. Seems like a clear
This. Seems like a clear case of Federal interference with the State legislation.
Which is currently his go-to
Which is currently his go-to activity, isn’t it? Now he’s president, anyway (before, he thought it was terrible if he thought the feds were interfering in state matters…).
I’ve been following the
I’ve been following the introduction of New York Congestion (Relief) Charging with interest. It was originally supposed to come in last Summer with a fee of $15, but the New York mayor bottled it, and paused it, reintroducing it last month as a reduced fee of $9, which is still expected to raise enough revenue for them to secure bonds of $15bn to fund investment in public transport etc. It seems there’s some ancient beef between New York and New Jersey too, with the Mayor there turning down the opportunity for a share in proceeds for their public transport, and instead they made an uncessful legal challenge. He is also obsessed with spending public money on road widening, which is no longer necessary, so a lot of questions there.
So far the number of vehicles coming into Manhatten is down, but given only 11% of those commuting to work there did so by by car, and cars don’t go to shops, it’s car-brain to believe that fewer cars must mean business is down. Car parking is already hugely expensive, and there are tolls on a lot of the bridges into Manhatten, so those previously driving in were already spending a lot more than petrol money.
Not that it’s statistically significant, but despite prophecies of doom and gloom, Broaway audiences were higher in January 2025 than January 2024, and the same is apparently so for footfall – however they measure it.
It seems that there isn’t a legal means for a President to overturn something that was approved at State level, especially now it’s in place, however, he might threaten to remove Federal funding and basically blackmail New York into abandoning it. However, as most regulars here know, these are the kinds of changes that people worry about, but then decide they are OK/good once seen in action, and become more popular over time. Polling currently showing it’s more popular with those who are affected by it than those who are indignant at the thought of having to pay.
Hopefully it’s all bluster from Trump. If he still has his hotel in New York he might realise that his customers prefer to visit a city with cleaner air.
He better get on with
He better get on with scrapping it, before people adjust to it as they have everywhere else a congestion charge has been introduced, and a majority grows to prefer it.
Meh. He’s just the most
Meh. He’s just the most attention-grabbing loon to have a go.
Canada can offer you a provincial governor meddling in the major city in the same way *
Rishi was having a go (late, a bit more oblique) via Mark Harper (who was at least the transport secretary) – who remembers the “Plan for Drivers” **?
* Doug Ford, brother of a previous Toronto mayor, the late crack-smoking (not hyperbole) Rob Ford. And these guys are apparently really popular! And we in the UK think we’ve got it bad with a few pandemic piss-ups in number 10 and some dog-whistlers on the right…
** Because “the easy political choice is to vilify the private car even when it’s been one of the most powerful forces for personal freedom and economic growth in the last century. Used appropriately and considerately, the car was, is, and will remain a force for good. … It is not right that some drivers feel under attack. … We will explore options to stop local councils using so-called “15-minute cities”, such as in Oxford, to police people’s lives; we will restrain the most aggressively anti-driver traffic management measures.”
I say, anyone fancy a culture war?
Fortune’s wheel does indeed
Fortune’s wheel does indeed make strange revolutions
He might be a loon but the
He might be a loon but the danger and destruction continues and has global effects.
Then you have musk who thinks we live in a “Truman Show” constructed by USAID.
This is going to end horribly and affect everyone.
Unfortunately the US is so
Unfortunately the US is so big and powerful (and generally sees itself as such an exemplar / exception) that when it changes direction (either going out to save / police the world, OR suddenly turning inward) it can affect everyone (sometimes positively, sometimes in terrible ways).
We’re “living beyond our means” in the UK. The US are already further beyond that – they’ve just turned to go further in the wrong direction (looks good short term, for some…)
Many places in the US could make a change away from quite so much driving – to their own benefit (even economically). Mass motoring early and thoroughly may have almost permanently blocked paths to changing that though.
(e.g. Here’s Portland, one of the places often touted as a bike city, where things have recently stalled or declined at a tiny modal share compared to some places in Europe. Although it’s hard to compare as they seem to record only “commuters” – who are often the easiest group to grow).
I wouldn’t trivilise it.
I wouldn’t trivilise it. Cyclists are just another minority in the eyes of his authoritarian regime. UK may suffer similar fate, should Reform come to power.
BBB wrote:
I just saw that the UK and the US have refused to sign the Paris accords on AI.
I’m not sure you’ll need to wait until Reform and the Faragists have come to power…
Perhaps the dire
Perhaps the dire prognostications from some folks about self-driving cars need another outing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=040ejWnFkj0
Although currently some seem to have an achilles heel…
chrisonabike wrote:
I was reading about this. While it was advertised as an anti-cycle lane policy, when you looked at the detail of the bill there was only one bit on bike lanes (anti of course), but there was a lot more about making it easier for massive and expensive road building schemes to proceed with substantially reduced scrutiny.
That’s small comfort if you want to keep bike lanes etc, but it’s always worth thinking about what is really motivating them. I notice amongst a lot of the hyperbole on tarrifs, he wanted much higher tarrifs for EVs and solar panels than for oil and gas, which IMO is telling.
Well, NJB feels that this
Well, NJB feels that this chap holds some kind of grudge against Toronto (which may be true, IDK). I would agree that it’s often more about the equivalent of “drill baby drill” – e.g. chasing the fast money / development, usually via reduced regulation – than sticking it to e.g. cyclists.
Even in the UK rather than US cyclists (especially for daily transport) are a tiny minority almost everywhere. Most people probably rarely or never think about this topic. Which might make it even more curious that such media bile appears, but …
Bikesnob should be good this
Bikesnob should be good this evening.
Not sure: I think Eben has
Not sure: I think Eben has been trying to avoid “politics”.
I thought he wanted the
I thought he wanted the states to make more decisions for themselves like abortion and for the federal govt to be smaller and less involved in peoples lives.
No, he wants to be a fascist
No, he wants to be a fascist authoritarian above any laws
Monty41 wrote:
When he wasn’t in charge of the Federal Government, he wanted States that wanted to do what he liked to be able to do so without interference from the Federal Government. Now he is in charge of Federal Government, he wants to be able to stop States that want to do things he doesn’t like from doing those things.
(And also what Hirsute said.)
If a bike-lane is 5h1t3, it
If a bike-lane is 5h1t3, it should be ripped out. Let’s hope a better bike lanes take their place.
I wish they’d rip out the rubbish ones near me. Sometimes no bike-lane is better than a terrible and dangrous one! especially the painted ones, absolute waste of time.
Shurely “… it should be
Shurely “… it should be upgraded to a bike path” (class 1, over there)?
Also – if you’ve got quite a few bike lanes – and increasing numbers of people are using them even if they’re a bit rubbish (like … in New York) probably what you should do is look to build an actual network of suitable (safe, convenient) routes for cycling. Continuity, quality and adequate coverage / frequency are most important so perhaps start with a small area, like Seville. (Good idea especially in the US where folks are habituated to epic driving trips!)
Currently New York is definitely still at the “green shoots but could try harder” stage – though pretty good for the US.
But yeah – generally cycle lanes are not a sign of a healthy travel environment (well – I guess they’re a better sign than a 4 lane stroad…)
Please stop feeding my
Please stop feeding my obsession: it doesn’t need it.
Trump probably can’t
Trump probably can’t understand that the revenue from congestion pricing is going towards upgrading the transit system. Somebody could maybe draw a big diagram using crayons for him. Expecting him to understand the laws of physics with regard to kinetic energy for bicycles vs cars is probably a step too far.
“Transit”?!? Trump probably
“Transit”?!? Trump probably thinks that is just some sort of communist thing, only for losers
Trump has a thing against
Trump has a thing against bikes because he’s so unbalanced he’s unable to ride one.
His hands are too small to
His hands are too small to reach the brake levers and his tie gets caught in the chain.