Gov. Kathy Hochul and top MTA officials continue to praise congestion pricing as a major win for New York City, insisting that the tolls are reshaping Manhattan’s core for the better. Yet nearly a year into the program, analysts and everyday motorists are pushing back, saying the celebration is premature—and deeply disconnected from reality.
Many drivers insist that nothing has improved except the size of their bills. After months of paying the tolls, they say traffic still crawls through Midtown and downtown, leaving them wondering why they’re shelling out more money for the same miserable commute.
Adding fuel to the frustration, MTA leaders have declared publicly that “polling” shows motorists are increasingly embracing the new fees—even as the agency hears constant complaints that congestion pricing has made little difference on clogged streets.
In September, Hochul delivered one of the program’s most glowing endorsements, proclaiming, “This program has been nothing short of transformational, making streets safer, reducing gridlock across the region, and unlocking generational upgrades to mass transit, benefitting millions.” She added another line that infuriated many commuters: “Congestion pricing is working, it is legal, and the cameras are staying on.”
But workers on the road every day paint a far darker picture. Taxi driver Mohammad Haque summed up what many of his colleagues say: “It hasn’t changed anything, especially south of 60th.” He didn’t hold back, adding, “From what we’ve seen, the traffic is even worse. In my opinion, they’re just taking the money and not helping the city at all. Traffic is still there and we’re losing time – and the MTA, they’re just taking the money.”
The MTA projected that the $9 daily fee would bring in $500 million during its first year. That milestone has already been passed. At the same time, the agency claims traffic has fallen 11% inside the tolling area.
But several independent analysts argue the MTA is exaggerating the results. Port Authority counts at the Hudson River crossings—which feed directly into the congestion zone—show drops of less than 5% in the spring, calling the MTA’s numbers into question.
Some experts say the discrepancies stem from how the MTA has chosen to measure its success. Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute criticized the agency’s approach, calling it a “crude way of doing it, and it hurts confidence in the program.” She pointed out that “the cameras were set up ages before congestion pricing started,” arguing that the MTA should have collected fresh pre-toll data rather than relying on projections of what traffic would have been.
Others noted that the agency pulled key baseline numbers from just a single day in October. CUNY engineering professor Alison Conway said the one-day snapshot leaves “room for a lot of uncertainty in how representative that day is.” She added that she assumed the day was “carefully selected by [the New York MTA Council] to avoid any atypical conditions,” but still called the method “basic, but reasonable.” Even so, she warned that unusual weather or construction “might make that adjustment factor unusually high or low, leading to an over- or under-estimate of a true baseline value.”
The Port Authority’s own year-over-year data shows mixed trends: declines of 6.7% at the tunnels in January and 10% in February, with smaller drops in March and April. But overall New York–New Jersey crossing activity dipped by only 0.4%, and traffic actually increased at the George Washington Bridge as motorists dodged the congestion zone entirely.
Meanwhile, the MTA has reported declines of 8%, 12%, 13%, and 12% in vehicles entering the toll zone from January through April—dramatically steeper than the tunnel data alone shows, leaving major questions about what exactly is being counted and how the numbers align.
Responding to criticism, the MTA said it adjusted its October sample using data from its own bridges and tunnels, the NYC Department of Transportation, and the Port Authority.
MTA CEO Janno Lieber, speaking at NYU Law School this week, insisted that the program has boosted public satisfaction, saying unspecified surveys show motorists feel good about the changes. Lieber also touted broader gains: fewer vehicles citywide and improvements in both pedestrian experience and air quality. “You know, who loves congestion pricing? The drivers are now, in polling recently, are letting us know they love it because they’re saving so much time,” he said. “The people who drive to work in Manhattan who spend 50 bucks to park actually do value their time. I’m not shocked.”
Pressed to identify the surveys he referenced, the agency first pointed to a September poll of 800 New Yorkers—not only drivers—in which 59% expressed support. A more driver-specific poll cited by the MTA showed three-quarters of motorists reported quicker commutes, but that survey was completed in early February, when the initiative was only a month old.
Back on the ground, drivers insist those rosy portrayals don’t reflect the daily grind. “I don’t notice any difference,” Haque said. “Look at the traffic here – from morning until 8 p.m. every day, every single day. They took lanes away for buses, lanes for bikes – what’s congestion pricing doing?”
He added, “Someone should ask them what they’re doing with all this money. New York should do something about traffic, but not this. This is not good for us. This is not good for the city.”
Staten Island electrician Deacon Howard echoed the frustration, saying that the program, which charges most drivers $9 and charges more for trucks, “isn’t relieving traffic because people still have to drive.” He figures he’s paying about $2,000 more this year, only to sit in the same standstill. “It’s the same traffic, just more fees. I don’t see no difference. Four years ago it took me an hour and a few minutes to get to work,” he said. “Now it takes me an hour and five minutes to work. So where’s the difference?”
Construction foreman Rad Perez of Chinatown voiced similar complaints, flatly stating the new charges “hasn’t alleviated anything.” He said, “As contractors, we have to charge our clients to drive below 60th, so someone’s paying it and we’re still driving.” From his vantage point, “all that money is going nowhere I can see,” and congestion pricing simply added “more taxes, more fees, taxes on top of fees and fees on top of taxes.”
Some taxi drivers noted that when the tolling system first went live, traffic briefly lightened, but that relief evaporated fast. “In the beginning with the congestion it was good because there were less cars in the city. So the traffic was not that bad. But right now, it’s really bad,” said driver Eric Oppong. “People don’t care. They still come to the city and there’s traffic everywhere. Sometimes it takes an hour to go 1.5 miles. Us taxi drivers hate the commute, I mean, I thought the congestion thing was gonna help, but it really didn’t.”
{Matzav.com}
