More people visited the Business Improvement Districts within Manhattan’s congestion relief zone in January than during the same month last year, dispelling some business owners’ fears the toll would deter visitors to Manhattan’s core, according to new Economic Development Corp. data shared with Crain’s.
Roughly 35.8 million people visited the mix of shopping districts below 60th Street last month, up from 34.3 million in January last year. The increased foot traffic represents a 4.6% increase.
“People were concerned that fewer vehicles would mean fewer people visiting the zone, and that seems to not be the case at all,” said Juliette Michaelson, the MTA’s deputy chief of policy and external relations.
A trickle of preliminary data is painting an early picture of the impact of the toll on Manhattan’s busiest streets. So far, those figures highlight that significantly fewer vehicles are traveling into Manhattan below 60th Street on a given weekday. Drivers are also experiencing faster commutes, mass transit ridership is up and fewer traffic crashes are occurring within the zone, compared to the same January weeks last year.
Beginning on Jan. 5 and throughout the rest of the month, nearly 1.2 million fewer vehicles entered the congestion relief zone during the same time last year, according to Micahelson.
“It tells me that, at the end of the day, this city depends a lot more on transit than on drivers,” said Michaelson.
