Congestion Pricing - How Has it Really Affected the City?

By Wylie Kalotay-Nemec

We are now coming up on two months since Congestion Pricing began. The highly controversial act that was passed aimed to tax drivers who enter New York City’s downtown and midtown neighborhoods. With the goal of limiting congestion in the city, the results have been very interesting, and might even show what all American downtown areas could look like in the very near future. 

In 2019, when the bill was first introduced to the New York State Legislature, there was a lot of pushback. The act almost seemed rushed and imperfected, as there were many problems found throughout the law. One big issue was that the toll was incredibly costly, being 15 dollars a trip, just for entering below 60th street.. East Side parent and congestion area resident, Leah Kalotay, said that once it was first introduced, she assumed that people inside the zone would not have to pay the toll, but once it was stated that they would, was “pissed that we weren’t exempt from it.” This opinion is not shared by East Side student Rory Grant who also lives within the congestion pricing area, who states, “People are paying to travel around the city regardless of type of transit; trains, buses, bikes, etc; so congestion pricing just creates another type of paying transit, considering it makes cars faster, the toll is a very valid price to pay for people who are willing to choose that faster private commute. ” 

After backlash from people all around the city about the prices and effects from the program, Governor Kathy Hochul made revisions to the rules. According to the New York Times, the congestion fee was reduced to nine dollars, as Hochul said it was, “too much for hard-working New Yorkers in this economic climate.” Along with that, scholarships were offered for families who couldn’t afford it, lowering the price for people under a certain household income. While the program still faced criticism, it went forward and first came into effect on January 1st of this year.

So how has it been? Has it accomplished its goal in the first five months, or is it not working at all?

Well, 3 months in, the effects of the fee have been seen throughout downtown Manhattan. One of the goals of the program was to decrease the traffic and commute times through the city. According to the Congestion Pricing Tracker, these times have significantly improved, as rush hour commute times through the Holland Tunnel have gone from 24 minutes to 13 minutes on average, and from 10 to 7 minutes to get through the Lincoln Tunnel. Clearly, there has been less traffic all around Manhattan from downtown to midtown. 

The other goal of the toll was to raise money for subways and other infrastructure projects to improve the city. This goal has definitely also been achieved, as according to ABC, they are averaging about 35 million dollars gained from tolls every month, with them gaining 37.5 million in January alone. At this rate, they are scheduled to raise more than 400 million dollars every year and that will really help the infrastructure of the city all around.

Overall, I think that Congestion Pricing has been a huge success, creating a true change in the city’s downtown. Of course, while it does still have some backlash, it has created many positive changes for the city like creating a new source of money for subway construction and has made there be much less traffic congestion downtown.