Congestion pricing deterred even more drivers from entering Manhattan below 60th Street in March, with traffic markedly thinning out on the city’s busiest streets compared to just two months earlier, according to new data from the MTA.
More than 82,000 fewer motorists entered the congestion relief zone per day in March compared to the same month in previous years, the data shows. The March drop amounted to roughly a 13% decline from the 642,000 vehicles that typically enter into the district during the month. That follows a 12% drop in February and an 8% dip in January, the data shows.
The data continues to bear out what New Yorkers traversing Midtown and further south have witnessed every day since the toll’s launch: Less congested streets with fewer cars on the road. In fact, MTA officials estimate that vehicles have taken 2.5 million fewer trips — the individual trips vehicles take into the zone, not just the amount of vehicles — into Manhattan’s congestion relief zone during March compared to the same month in previous years.
The trend was perhaps most noticeable during the week on March 2, when roughly 83,000 fewer vehicles traveled into the zone per day that week compared to previous years.
So, where are drivers going? At least some of them are swapping cars for mass transit. The seven-day average for subway ridership during that same week was more than 3.6 million straphangers and 1.3 million bus riders — a 7% uptick in subway riders and a 14% increase in bus travelers from the seven-day averages for the same time last year.
Even with more commuters opting for mass transit over car trips, the MTA said the program brought in $51.9 million in revenue during February. That’s up from the $46.8 million the authority said the toll generated in the program’s first 27 days, following its Jan. 5 launch. (Transit officials say they are still tallying the revenue the toll generated in March.)
The just over $100 million the toll raised in its first two months puts the program on track to exceed the estimated $500 million the authority projected congestion pricing to raise by year’s end. That’s cash that transit officials intend to spend on mass transit upgrades, including new elevators in subway stations, new trains and buses and to expand service by constructing phase two of the Second Avenue subway line in Manhattan.
But the threat of the Trump administration looms over the toll. President Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have ordered the MTA to shut down the toll by April 20. Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA board chair and CEO Janno Lieber have sued the federal government over the order, and have repeatedly said they will not turn off the tolls unless directed to do so by a federal judge.
The toll will likely stay live at least into the fall, after state transit officials and the Trump administration agreed to a legal timeline that will not resolve the lawsuit until likely October, meaning congestion pricing will stay live until then.
