Officials said crosstown traffic is down and travel times through major crossings are faster since the implementation of congestion pricing earlier this month.
Wednesday, January 29, 2025 9:42PM
Lindsay Tuchman reports from Lower Manhattan.
MANHATTAN (WABC) — MTA Officials gave an update on the congestion pricing tolling plan and said definitively that it is working.
Officials said crosstown traffic is down and travel times through major crossings are faster since the implementation of congestion pricing earlier this month.
Officials said in the 24 days of the implementation, MTA Chair and CEO Janno Leiber said “Congestion pricing is working well and delivering benefits for New Yorkers.”
They reviewed the latest congestion tolling data on Wednesday.
So far, statistics show an average of 490,000 vehicles entering Manhattan’s congestion relief zone below 60th Street per day. Compared to the typical January average of 583,000, that’s a nearly 16 percent decrease.
Drivers say they’ve noticed the difference.
“I do see a little bit of a difference, it’s less traffic,” one driver said.
“Just less traffic I think it’s a lot safer for pedestrians,” another said.
The data also shows on the whole, travel times are down and speeds are up. For example, weekday average trips on bridges and tunnels are down between 10 to 30 percent.
However, private traffic firms are reporting slower rush hour speeds outside of Manhattan, which the MTA says can be attributed to many things.
“It’s important to recognize what congestion what congestion pricing does not control is all of the traffic in the entire 12 county region. There are all kinds of variables that are impacting on that. We have more job we’ve had job growth in all over the region. It’s not just in the central business district,” Leiber said.
Transit leaders add subway ridership is up, but it’s still too soon to tell if that’s because of congestion pricing or not.
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Officials said crosstown traffic is down and travel times through major crossings are faster since the implementation of congestion pricing earlier this month.
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