Charging drivers $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street appears to have eased traffic as intended in the first week after the controversial toll began on Jan. 5, according to a report by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The number of vehicles entering the congestion zone was down about 7.5% compared to estimates for January traffic in past years, totaling between 475,000 to 562,000 on each of the first six days of tolling, the report found.
The first snapshot of the toll’s impact also found shorter travel times in the morning on the eight bridges and tunnels that lead into the congestion zone. A year earlier, trudging through the 2-mile-long Holland Tunnel into Lower Manhattan took as long as nearly 13 minutes; last week, the peak travel time on a Wednesday morning was 4 1/2 minutes.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 14: Cars and trucks are seen leaving the Queens Midtown Tunnel on November 14, 2024 in New York City. Gov. Kathy Hochul is announcing plans to restart the MTA’s congestion pricing program with a new reduced price of $9 base toll for passenger cars, which is a 40% reduction from the price previously approved by the MTA. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Supporters cheered those early results as a sign the toll is working as planned by warding off some of the drivers who have clogged New York City’s most congested roads. The goal was to ease traffic and air pollution while raising toll revenue to fund costly upgrades for the MTA’s subways, commuter trains and buses.
“In the first week of congestion pricing, the nation’s worst traffic gridlock has already improved,” the Riders Alliance, an advocacy group for transit users, posted on X. “Drivers are saving a lot of time. Buses are finally speeding up, especially express buses full of long distance commuters from across New York and New Jersey.”
Opponents have slammed the toll as an onerous cost, particularly for commuters who drive to jobs below 60th Street and have limited mass transit alternatives. A raft of lawsuits to stop it, including ones by New Jersey and Rockland County, are pending in court, and President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to kill the toll after he takes office.
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The MTA touted the toll’s initial results on Monday, saying 219,000 fewer vehicles entered the congestion zone and travel times on inbound crossings dropped by 30% to 40% in the first week.
“The early data backs up what New Yorkers have been telling us all week – traffic is down, the streets feel safer, and buses are moving faster,”said Janno Lieber, chairman and CEO of the MTA.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Is congestion pricing working? What we know from NYC toll’s first week