1 Million Fewer Vehicles Have Entered Most Congested Part of Manhattan Since Program Launch
Travel Times 10% to 30% Faster at Inbound River Crossings
Bus Riders Experiencing Faster, More Reliable Express Bus Service
Weekend Express Bus Service Ridership Grows by More Than 20%
Watch Presentation to MTA Board; Read Accompanying Materials
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today released data on traffic volumes, travel times, and transit ridership from the first three weeks of the nation’s first congestion relief program, which took effect on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. Data indicates that travel times at inbound crossings and within the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ) continue to be significantly faster than last January. Bus riders and especially express bus riders have benefited from less gridlock and are continuing to experience faster and more reliable commutes. In total since the program was launched on Jan. 5, more than 1 million fewer vehicles have entered the CRZ than they would have without the toll.
“Before the start of congestion relief, talk of lawsuits and doubts dominated the conversation, but now it’s the undeniably positive results we’ve been seeing since week one,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “Better bus service, faster drive times and safer streets are good for all New Yorkers.”
“Although we were always expecting major travel time reductions from the Congestion Relief Program, it’s still exciting to see it become a reality – especially for local and express bus riders,” said MTA Deputy Chief of Policy and External Relations Juliette Michaelson. “We’ll continue to share data on this first-in-the nation program and report on traffic patterns as people adapt to the toll.”
Data provided by TRANSCOM shows inbound trips times on all Hudson and East River crossings are now 10% to 30%, faster or more, than they were in January 2024. Motorists crossing via the Holland Tunnel are experiencing the most improved daily time crossings, with a 48% reduction on average during peak morning hours, followed by the Williamsburg and Queensboro Bridges which are both experiencing an average of 30% faster trip times. Travel time savings are also beginning upstream of the crossings, with motorists on the Long Island Expressway, Flatbush Avenue, NJ 495 and other roads leading up to the crossings also seeing improved speeds. Drivers in the CRZ are experiencing travel time improvements especially during afternoon peak hours with reductions as high as 59%.
Transit Customer Experiences:
Faster traffic is improving the speeds of buses too, especially on express service bus routes, which utilize Hudson and East River crossings into the zone. Customers riding express buses from Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx are experiencing median time savings of up to 10 minutes. With less gridlock, their trip times are also far more reliable and predictable than prior to the CRZ Program launch.
NYC Transit Department of Buses will conduct a pilot program to make small adjustments to time points along bus routes to take advantage of less congested streets.
"Buses are running more reliably and efficiently and more customers are choosing to take them,” said NYC Transit Senior Vice President of Buses Frank Annicaro. “It’s great to see improvement to customer journey times along with ridership growth and I look forward to even more New Yorkers making the switch to public transit as we continue to improve bus service to the CRZ.”
“People are voting with their feet, taking the bus into Manhattan and trusting us with their commutes,” said NYC Transit Chief of Operations Planning Christopher Pangilinan. “This is a fantastic impact we are seeing on the crossings and We’re looking forward to the future and taking advantage of these travel times.”
Better, faster, and more reliable bus service means more riders are choosing to take the bus. Bus ridership is growing with express weekend ridership seeing a 21% bump in ridership and 7% growth on non-express routes. Weekday express bus ridership is up 6% over January 2024. Ridership on the X27 bus route from Bay Ridge to Manhattan grew by nearly 15% on weekdays and 55% on weekends.
Subway ridership has also grown by 7.3% on weekdays and 12% on weekends when comparing January 2024 and January 2025. This builds on the ridership growth trends experienced in Fall, 2024.
On the Long Island Rail Road, New Hyde Park, Douglaston, Garden City, Ronkonkoma and Woodmere station are seeing year-over-year ridership growth in January that has outpaced systemwide ridership growth.
Congestion Relief Zone Traffic Patterns:
Since the launch of the CRZ, an average of 490,000 vehicles have entered the CRZ each weekday, with another 63,000 vehicles entering the CBD but staying on the excluded roadways and therefore not being subject to the toll.
Data shows that the majority of those entering the CRZ (57%) are passenger vehicles. 36% of entries are taxis and for-hire vehicles, small trucks accounted for 4% of entries and large trucks made up 0.5% of entries. For motorists operating exclusively along the excluded roadways of the FDR Drive and West Side Highway, nearly 9 in 10 were passenger vehicles.
Traffic patterns indicate motorists are shifting their travel to the overnight period, supporting a goal of the toll – to shift traffic away from the daytime when the zone is the most congested.
43% of motorists entered the CRZ via north of 60th Street, 24% entered from Brooklyn, 16% entered from Queens and 17% entered from New Jersey.
Commitment to Transparency:
The MTA will continue to provide updates on the Congestion Relief program on the NYS Open Data portal and metrics.mta.info.