The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it observed a change in Manhattan’s traffic patterns since the congestion pricing program was implemented.
Traffic in Manhattan decreased by 7.5 percent in the week after New York City’s congestion pricing plan took effect, according to preliminary traffic data released by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on Jan. 13.
The congestion pricing program, which took effect on Jan. 5, is a policy that charges a standard $9 fare to drivers of most passenger cars entering Manhattan below 60th Street from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.
Preliminary data showed that on average, about 539,000 cars entered Manhattan’s Central Business District daily between Jan. 6 and Jan. 10, a 7.5 percent decrease from an estimated average weekday baseline of 583,000 for January.
“Just look out the window: there is less traffic, quieter streets, and we think everyone has seen it,” Juliette Michaelson, MTA deputy chief of policy and external relations, told reporters on Monday. “Traffic patterns are already changing and they will continue to change.”
MTA stated that travel times on inbound river crossings into Manhattan, including the Holland and Lincoln tunnels that run under the Hudson River from New Jersey, also decreased by 30 to 40 percent on average.
Travel times on the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive and the West Side Highway also improved during the afternoon traffic, falling between 20 percent and 46 percent, according to the data.
Cars traveling on the East-West streets in the CBD also experienced time improvements, especially in the afternoon hours, with trips becoming 4 percent to 36 percent faster. Travel times on some South-North avenues also improved, with trips becoming 21 percent faster, the data showed.
Despite anecdotal reports of more crowded train cars, Michaelson said the agency had not clocked a noticeable increase in subway users, largely because the baseline number of riders—more than 3 million daily—is so high. A handful of bus routes originating in Brooklyn and Staten Island had seen an increase in ridership the previous week.
