NYMTA
NYMTA and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on July 5 reported that New York City’s congestion pricing program in its first six months “has succeeded in reducing traffic and raising revenues to fund transit improvements across the region, while economic activity in New York City has flourished.”
Activated at 12:00 am on Jan. 5, the nation’s first urban congestion pricing program was aimed to reduce gridlock in Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone below 60th Street by charging motorists to enter the zone. Revenue from congestion pricing, NYMTA and the Governor reported, “is on track” to reach the forecasted $500 million in 2025, allowing the MTA to advance $15 billion in “critical capital improvements” to mass transit on its subway, bus, Long Island Rail Road, and Metro-North Railroad systems.
They noted that New York State and MTA “have successfully fought off repeated legal challenges to congestion pricing and have stood up to block the unlawful attempts of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the [POTUS 47] Administration to terminate the program.” In May, a preliminary injunction was issued in the case of Metropolitan Transportation Authority v. Duffy, keeping congestion pricing in effect pending further court proceedings and enjoining the federal government from taking retaliatory measures in response.
Since the congestion-pricing program took effect Jan. 5, NYMTA and the Governor reported the following benefits:
- “Congestion pricing is reducing traffic and improving quality of life.” Congestion-pricing has “succeeded in reducing traffic, speeding up the flow of traffic, and reducing delays—not just in the Congestion Relief Zone but throughout the region,” they said. “The number of vehicles entering the zone is down by 11% since congestion pricing started. Every day, 67,000 fewer vehicles enter the zone, and since the program started, more than 10 million fewer vehicles have entered the zone compared to last year.” According to a report from the Regional Plan Association and Waze, traffic delays are down in the Congestion Relief Zone by 25% and across the metropolitan region by 9%, NYMTA and the Governor noted. Delays, they added, are down by 10% in the Bronx and 14% in parts of Bergen County, N.J. “Time lost to traffic jams is down 12%, giving seven minutes for every hour spent in traffic in 2024 back to commuters’ lives,” they reported. “Travel times on river crossings have decreased by 6% to as much as 42% in 2025 compared to 2024. In the Holland Tunnel, rush hour delays are down by 65% since congestion pricing began. In the Lincoln Tunnel, MTA express buses are traveling almost 24% faster than in 2024. Roads and highways approaching the Congestion Relief Zone, including Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn and the Long Island Expressway, are also moving faster than last year.” Reduced gridlock has improved quality of life in New York City, according to NYMTA and the Governor, which noted that crashes are down 14% and traffic injuries are down by 15% in the zone. They added that air quality has improved and noise pollution has reduced since the program launched: Honking and vehicle noise complaints of 311 are down by 45% in 2025 and a new report from the City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released on July 2 showed steady or decreasing levels of fine particle air pollution (or PM2.5) at most sites, both inside and outside the Congestion Relief Zone.
- “Transit service and ridership are on the rise.” Transit ridership across all modes has increased from January-May 2025 when compared to the same period last year, according to NYMTA and the Governor. All MTA modes of public transportation have had post-pandemic record high ridership in the first half of 2025: Subway (+7%); Bus (+12%); LIRR (+8%); Metro-Nort (+6%); and Access-A-Ride (+21%). Transit service has steadily improved in 2025 to near record levels, they reported. In May, subway On-Time Performance was 85.2%, the “best non-pandemic month in recorded history”; LIRR and Metro-North On-Time Performance have consistently been at or near 97% and 98%, respectively, in 2025; and bus speeds have increased by an average of 3.2% within the Congestion Relief Zone, with some routes increasing by as much as 25%.
- “Economic activity in New York City is up.” According to a report from the Partnership for New York City, before congestion pricing was launched, businesses and individuals were wasting hundreds of hours sitting in traffic, costing the economy $20 billion per year, according to NYMTA and the Governor. “Commuters are saving as much as 21 minutes each way,” they said. “Time savings help businesses make deliveries and save costs. The annual value of these time savings could be as high as $1.3 billion. In May, business district pedestrian activity within the Congestion Relief Zone increased by 8.4% compared to May 2024. This growth is much faster than for business districts outside of the zone, which saw an increase of 2.7%.” Additionally, Broadway, they said, just posted its biggest season ever with $1.9 billion in ticket sales; retail sales are on track to be up $900 million in 2025 compared to 2024; hotel occupancy was 87% in April 2025 compared to 85% in April 2024; commercial office leasing in first-quarter 2025 is up 11% compared with fourth-quarter 2024 and up 80% since first-quarter 2024. At the same time, they noted, New York City now has the most jobs in its history—nearing 4.86 million in April 2025; that represents 1.6% growth over April 2024, outpacing the national average of 1.1%.
- “NYMTA is investing in transit improvements funded by congestion pricing.” By enabling the NYMTA to issue $15 billion in bonds to fund projects in its 2020-2024 Capital Plan, congestion pricing is powering improvements across the NYMTA network, according to the transit agency and the Governor. Improvement projects funded by congestion pricing include: 435 additional R211 subway cars (including 80 additional open-gangway cars); 44 new, more reliable dual-mode locomotives for LIRR; 300 new M9A cars for Metro-North and LIRR; Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) signal upgrades on the A and C lines between Downtown Brooklyn and Ozone Park; and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) upgrades at 23 subway stations, including new elevators, reconstructed platforms and other improvements. Additionally, funding from congestion pricing is said to allow NYMTA to move forward with the tunneling contract for Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway, which is slated to be awarded in second-half 2025.
“Congestion relief is a massive success and validation of the initiative keeps pouring in,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said. “The program is achieving all of its goals in terms of traffic reduction, increased travel speeds, safety, noise reduction and more. And not only is Congestion Relief delivering all the projected benefits—and more—it’s also proving that New York State government can effectively execute major, ambitious initiatives that improve the quality of life in ways New Yorkers notice and appreciate.”
“In addition to all of the benefits New Yorkers are already feeling on our streets, Congestion Relief is delivering accessibility at 25 subway and railroad stations, modern subway signals for AC and BDFM riders, new subway and railcars, and countless other essential projects for our public transit system,” MTA Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer said. “The new MTA is hard at work advancing these projects better, faster, and cheaper.”
Further Reading:
- Judge Blocks SECDOT Punch
- Litigation Battle Reheats, MTA Fights Back
- More Fun Times and Unintended Consequences Ahead?
- Congestion Pricing Works Well. Capire?
- Congestion Pricing Here, Controversy Remains
REM
REM’s South Shore-to-Central Station automated urban rail system service (Part 1) will be closed completely from July 5 through Aug. 17, according to regional transit authority ARTM (Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain), CBC reported July 5. Why? Service testing will ramp up for Part 2, the new REM lines linking Montreal’s West Island and the North Shore to downtown, which are due for launch in fall 2025.
“Completion of the Deux-Montagnes and Anse-à-l’Orme branches was pushed back to the fall, but the REM warned late last year that the testing phase would disrupt service over the summer,” the media outlet said.
REM’s South Shore branch service will resume Aug. 18.
REM provided on its website a list of trip options for riders. Click here for details.
Phase 3 of the service, the Airport segment, is due to open in 2027, in collaboration with Aéroports de Montréal.
