Congestion Pricing Marks 1st Anniversary
With Nary a Complaint from the Feds
NEW YORK—One year ago, on Jan. 5, congesting tolling gantries went live in the central business district of Manhattan to usher in a new era of traffic management in the U.S. in the following months, legal papers and political rhetoric by federal officials flew faster than pre-election day promises to kill the program. Thankfully, they failed.
In the year since the tolling program took effect, commuting into Manhattan via mass transit has increased, air pollution has decreased and the number of vehicles entering the congestion zone below 60th Street has fallen roughly 10%.
“Even if you don’t like paying a toll, which I’m sure you don’t like, there’s something in it for you as from a driver’s standpoint,” transportation analyst Bruce Schaller told The Gothamist.
New York City’s congestion pricing program will reportedly beat its revenue goal of $500 million to close out 2025, and a recent study released by Cornell University found that the program’s environmental benefits are significant not only in the tolling area but throughout the city’s five boroughs.
Bloomberg reports that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is poised to beat its target of generating $500 million of revenue from the program after expenses. Despite initial concerns, the business impact in the district doesn’t appear to be as onerous as some had feared, with a 3.4% increase in visitors and a 6.3% boost in sales-tax revenue. The goal of the congestion pricing plan is to improve air quality, reduce traffic and raise $15 billion to upgrade the MTA’s transit system.
The Cornell University study found that in the first six months of the program, air pollution—in the form of particulate matter 2.5 micrometers and smaller—dropped by 22% in the Congestion Relief Zone, which encompasses all local streets and avenues at or below 60th Street in Manhattan. The Cornell research team also reported declines across the city’s five boroughs and surrounding suburbs, according to a report in the Cornell Chronicle. During the same period, when the toll for passenger and small commercial vehicles at peak hours was $9, the overall volume of vehicles entering the Congestion Relief Zone decreased by about 11%.
“Our overall conclusion is that congestion pricing in New York City, like many other cities in the world that have implemented it, helped not only improve traffic, but also helped reduce air pollutant concentration, improve air quality and should be good for public health,” said Oliver Gao, who is the director of Cornell’s Center for Transportation, Environment and Community Health.
Last month New York State announced the advancement of $1.75 billion in key transit projects for the MTA designed to modernize the subway system with revenues generated by congestion pricing. The MTA Board approved a design-build contract to modernize subway signals on the A and C lines in Brooklyn and Queens, moving forward on one of the most significant upgrades to service quality and reliability in the system. The MTA Board also approved accessibility upgrades to five subway stations, including the major complex at 42 St-Bryant Park, which serves 111,000 daily riders on the 7, B, D, F and M lines.
On the anniversary of the program, congestion tolling’s two strongest proponents, Gov. Katy Hochul and MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber, celebrated the rise in mass transit ridership and subway performance is at record highs. When these projects are completed, hundreds of thousands of riders will benefit from even more reliable and accessible service thanks to these significant investments, the governor said. The MTA boss also noted that the list of improvements funded by congestion pricing keeps growing.
Published: January 6, 2026