Gov. Kathy Hochul took a victory lap Monday on the one-year anniversary of congestion pricing in Manhattan, touting fewer vehicles and boosted bus speeds in the toll zone since the tolls went into effect.
The MTA wrote in a new report that 27 million fewer vehicles entered the central business district — Manhattan below 60th Street — in the first year of the program charging drivers a base fare of $9. On average, there was an 11% reduction in traffic each day in the zone, compared to the year before the tolls went live.
“We’re winning this battle one year into it,” Hochul said at a celebratory news conference.
Hochul, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and MTA Chair Janno Lieber praised the program for improving air quality and raising revenue for improvements to public transit.
“We also celebrate what this has meant for New Yorkers, whether they are driving, whether they are biking, whether they are walking, taking a bus, taking the train, whether they are just breathing the air in the city they call home,” Mamdani said. “Because this is a program that has been successful no matter how you measure it.”
Mamdani’s appearance was notable. His predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, opted not to defend the program, and often directed questions about the tolls to the MTA and Hochul.
Bus speeds in the toll zone have sped up by 2.3% — a data point that aligns with half of Mamdani’s campaign pledge to make buses fast and free.
Criticism of congestion pricing has become considerably more muted since the program was launched.
President Donald Trump’s administration has failed, so far, to kill the tolls. A hearing in the MTA’s lawsuit against the federal transportation department over the latter’s effort to end congestion pricing is scheduled for later this month.