Data Provides Vehicle Entries into Congestion Relief Zone in 10-Minute Increments by Location and Vehicle Type
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today released data on the volume of vehicles entering into Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ), by location, time and type of vehicle. The dataset, MTA Congestion Relief Zone Vehicle Entries, is available to view on the MTA’s data transparency website, and can be downloaded on New York State Open Data.
The dataset allows users to view the numbers of vehicles entering into the Manhattan Central Business District in by date and time and location in 10-minute increments. The dataset can further be tabulated by vehicles class. Read more about the dataset.
Among some topline findings, the data offers details on how some drivers have been entering the zone before 5 a.m., in order to avoid the peak period toll, helping to reduce congestion through tunnels into Manhattan. The data also reveals that about 11% or 12% of vehicles stay on the excluded roadways.
“The MTA has made public a highly detailed dataset on a complex and historic program in record time,” said MTA Deputy Chief of Policy and External Relations Juliette Michaelson. “This dataset is the first of a series related to the congestion relief zone tolling program. We look forward to seeing what other stakeholders can do with the data, as we do with all of the nearly 150 datasets the MTA publishes.”
"We're impressed the MTA is getting these congestion pricing related traffic counts published as open data so quickly," said Rachael Fauss, Senior Policy Advisor at Reinvent Albany. "The MTA is already the gold standard for transit open data and this highly-detailed, easily-accessible, new traffic data is extremely valuable. It will inform everything from evaluating congestion pricing to far better understanding traffic patterns, curb use and economic activity in the region's core. This is good stuff and shows the MTA can move fast and effectively when it has the opportunity."
MTA Open Data:
The MTA Open Data program is managed by the Data & Analytics team, the MTA's center of excellence in the management, usage, and sharing of data. Its three main functions are to aggregate and harmonize the MTA’s many diverse data sources, to devise and automate creative analyses that uncover valuable insights in that data, and to publicly share the resulting products.