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Changes since congestion pricing started in New York

Fewer cars. Faster travel. Less honking. And some questions we still can’t answer.

Almost immediately after the tolls went into effect Jan. 5 — charging most vehicles $9 to enter Manhattan from 60th Street south to the Battery — they began to alter traffic patterns, commuter behavior, transit service, even the sound of gridlock and the on-time arrival of school buses. Inside the congestion zone, as more workers returned to the office after the pandemic ebbed, average speeds had steadily declined since 2021, according to New York City Department of Transportation data that tracks the movement of vehicles licensed by the Taxi and Limousine Commission. According to Department of Transportation data, speeds in adjacent neighborhoods north of 60th Street in Manhattan and just across the river in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as in the rest of the city, have been flat or slightly faster than last year, depending on the time of day.

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