By Forum Staff
Governor Kathy Hochul and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority earlier this month announced that in its first six months, the city’s congestion pricing program has succeeded in reducing traffic and raising revenues to fund transit improvements across the region, while economic activity in Gotham has flourished.
Activated at midnight on Jan. 5, the nation’s first urban congestion pricing program was developed to reduce gridlock in Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone below 60th Street by charging motorists to enter the zone. Revenue from congestion pricing is on track to reach the forecasted $500 million in 2025, allowing the MTA to advance $15 billion in critical capital improvements to mass transit on its subway, bus, Long Island Rail Road, and Metro-North Railroad systems, Hochul and authority officials have reported.
According to data from the MTA and other reports and studies from business groups and other data sources: the number of vehicles entering the zone is down by 11 percent since congestion pricing started. Every day, 67,000 fewer vehicles enter the zone, and since the program started, more than 10 million fewer vehicles have entered the zone compared to last year.
According to a report from the Regional Plan Association and Waze, traffic delays are down in the Congestion Relief Zone by 25 percent and across the metropolitan region by 9 percent. Delays are also down by 10 percent in the Bronx and 14 percent in parts of Bergen County, N.J. Time lost to traffic jams is down 12 percent, giving seven minutes for every hour spent in traffic in 2024 back to commuters’ lives. Travel times on river crossings have decreased by 6 percent to as much as 42 percent in 2025 compared to 2024. In the Holland Tunnel, rush hour delays are down by 65 percent since congestion pricing began. In the Lincoln Tunnel, MTA express buses are traveling almost 24 percent faster than in 2024. Roads and highways approaching the Congestion Relief Zone, including Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn and the Long Island Expressway, are also moving faster than last year.
Reduced gridlock has improved quality of life in New York City. Crashes in the Congestion Relief Zone are down 14 percent. Traffic injuries are down by 15 percent in the zone, and the safety benefits are being felt citywide. Earlier this month, the City Department of Transportation released data showing that pedestrian fatalities on Big Apple streets are at historic lows, matching levels last seen in 2018.
Additionally, air quality has improved and noise pollution has reduced since the program was launched. Honking and vehicle noise complaints to 311 are down by 45 percent in 2025. A new report from the City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released on July 2 showed steady or decreasing levels of fine particle air pollution (or PM2.5) at most sites, both inside and outside the Congestion Relief Zone.
Transit ridership across all modes has increased from January-May 2025 when compared to the same period last year. All MTA modes of public transportation have had post-pandemic record high ridership in the first half of 2025.
Subway: +7 percent
Bus: +12 percent
LIRR: +8 percent
Metro-North: +6 percent
Access-A-Ride: +21 percent
Transit service has steadily improved in 2025 to near record levels. In May, subway On-Time Performance was 85.2 percent, the best non-pandemic month in recorded history. Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North On-Time Performance have consistently been at or near 97 percent and 98 percent respectively in 2025. Buses are moving faster thanks to congestion pricing. Bus speeds have increased by an average of 3.2 percent within the CRZ, with some routes increasing by as much as 25 percent.
Commuters are saving as much as 21 minutes each way. Time savings help businesses make deliveries and save costs, Hochul said. The annual value of these time savings could be as high as $1.3 billion. In May, business district pedestrian activity within the Congestion Relief Zone increased by 8.4 percent compared to May 2024. This growth is much faster than for business districts outside of the zone, which saw an increase of 2.7 percent.
Business is booming in the Congestion Relief Zone in 2025. Broadway just posted its biggest season ever with $1.9 billion in ticket sales; retail sales are on track to be up $900 million in 2025 compared to 2024; Hotel occupancy was 87 percent in April 2025 compared to 85 percent in April 2024; Commercial office leasing in 2025 Quarter 1 is up 11 percent compared to 2024 Quarter 4 and up 80 percent since 2024 Quarter 1. At the same time, the city now has the most jobs in its history – nearing 4.86 million in April 2025. That represents 1.6 percent growth over April 2024, outpacing the national average of 1.1 percent.
“Six months in, it’s clear: congestion pricing has been a huge success, making life in New York better,” Hochul said. “In New York, we dare to do big things, and this program represents just that – traffic is down throughout the region, business is booming, transit ridership is up, and we are making historic upgrades to our transit system. We’ve also fended off five months of unlawful attempts from the federal government to unwind this successful program and will keep fighting – and winning – in the courts. The cameras are staying on.”
New York State and the MTA have successfully fought off repeated legal challenges to congestion pricing and have stood up to block the unlawful attempts of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Trump administration to terminate the program. In May, a preliminary injunction was issued in the case of Metropolitan Transportation Authority v. Duffy, keeping congestion pricing in effect pending further court proceedings and enjoining the federal government from taking retaliatory measures in response.
“Congestion relief is a massive success and validation of the initiative keeps pouring in. The program is achieving all of its goals in terms of traffic reduction, increased travel speeds, safety, noise reduction and more. And not only is Congestion Relief delivering all the projected benefits – and more – it’s also proving that New York State government can effectively execute major, ambitious initiatives that improve the quality of life in ways New Yorkers notice and appreciate,” MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said.
