The United States’ First Step Towards Decongestion
On 5 January 2025, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) officially implemented the United States’ very-first congestion pricing plan in the Manhattan Central Business District (CBD) of New York City.
The Central Business District Tolling Program, which was first declared as a requirement by the State in April 2019, is now in effect for any motorists entering Manhattan below 60th Street, which now is known not only as the CBD, but also the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ).
Charges for motorists vary from 9 USD for passenger and small commercial vehicles during peak hours, to 4.50 USD for motorcycles travelling at the same time, with 80% of total revenue generated by the Tolling Program set to be invested on capital improvements on both NYC subways and buses. The remaining 20% is to be split between upgrades to the Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road, respectively.
The aims of the Tolling Program are both ambitious and crucial, with potential benefits ranging from a reduction in personal vehicles within the CBD/CRZ, an increase in public transit ridership and a reduction in carbon emissions, as well as the aforementioned funding for public transit improvement works.
Despite the successful rollouts of congestion pricing plans in locations such as Rome, London and Singapore, the Tolling Program was, as was to be expected, not without its detractors. New Jersey Governer, Phil Murphy, stated to NorthJersey.com that the scheme was “Unfair and unpopular”, and a poll conducted by Siena College in the summer of 2024 found that 59% of voters were in favour of scrapping the scheme altogether.
The First Results
In the weeks following the Tolling Program’s implementation, the MTA has published a wealth of data showcasing several improvements as a result of the system’s introduction, with initial statistics indicating significant changes to traffic, travel times for drivers, bus journey trip times and an overall increase in transit ridership.
Data provided by non-profit transportation coalition TRANSCOM shows that, thus far, the CRZ has seen an overall reduction of 1 million vehicles entering the area, a total decrease of around 40% based on an estimated baseline across the whole of January.
Improvements also include a 48% reduction in travel times for those travelling into the CBD using the Holland Tunnel (EB) during peak hours, with both Williamsburg and Queensboro Bridge entry routes seeing a reduction of roughly 30% on average during peak morning hours.
Bus ridership numbers across the area’s weekend express services have seen a 21% increase, with a bump of 7% on non-express routes. Weekday express ridership has also risen by 6% overall, and ridership on the X27 bus route travelling from Bay Ridge to Manhattan has grown by 15% on weekdays and 55% on weekends.
Several bus routes have seen improvements in journey times, including those crossing either the East or Hudson Rivers into the CRZ, with the MTA stating a reduction of 1.3 minutes on the M50, 5% of its total trip time.
Elsewhere, data collected by Crashmapper and reported on Streetsblog NYC has found that the total number of collisions in the area have reduced by 55% year-on-year within the first three weeks of implementation, with a 51% reduction in overall injuries.
With the initial numbers provided by the MTA, it is clear to see that the implementation of the Tolling Program has, despite its relative infancy, already led to significant improvements to a plethora of key issues causing traffic congestion in the area.
The Future
With early data showcasing the success of the MTA’s implementation of the plan in New York, it could be argued that further expansion should not only be possible, but inevitable. However, with a significant change in the governing party in the United States comes an entirely different set of circumstances.
On 19 February, the United States Department of Transportation (US DOT) published a letter penned by current United States Transportation Secretary, Sean P. Duffy, in which the Federal Highway Administration called for the complete termination of the project on grounds of it running contrary to an agreement previously signed under the Value Pricing Program (VPPP), among other alleged causes for concern.
The DOT’s withdrawal from the project has, of course, been endorsed by President Trump, prompting a swift response from New York City Governor, Kathy Hochul, who has in turn filed an immediate lawsuit against the DOT, stating that the programme would not be halted until such time as a verdict was delivered by a judge.
In a different time, these were not points of such contention. In 2007, the DOT itself announced intentions to initiate congestion pricing plans for State Route 520 (Seattle), Interstate 95 (Miami/Ft. Lauderdale), Interstate 35W (Minneapolis), The Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco) and a variable parking meter system in both Chicago and Los Angeles County.
Of the proposed projects, the closest to receiving the full implementation of a pricing plan was San Francisco, which saw proposals from the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) in 2008 to reduce congestion within central locations in the city through the introduction of a scheme not unlike the one implemented in New York. The project, which saw several plans drafted to near completion, was put on indefinite hold following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Currently, there are no plans for this scheme to be re-examined, let alone introduced into operation. However, given the overwhelmingly positive results from New York, perhaps one day the move will be made. Maybe in four years.
This article was originally published in the Bus-News magazine.
