Congestion Pricing Is a Policy Miracle

On January 5th 2025, Congestion Pricing went into effect in New York City. It was a long and winding road (as I detailed here last summer), but Governor Hochul finally made the right decision and allowed the policy to go into effect (albeit at a $9 price point vs. the initial $15). While I was a bit concerned at first that this lower price would reduce the effectiveness of the congestion relief zone, it has still been a resounding success over the past two months. Despite this, Trump has issued an order demanding the MTA shut down the program tomorrow, March 21st. Thankfully, Trump’s legal authority here is questionable at best and the MTA is making the decision to keep the program running absent any court order forcing their hand. With so much debate over the impacts of congestion pricing, let’s take a look at the hard data and see exactly what’s happening: Traffic is down! First and foremost, congestion pricing has been stunningly effective at reducing traffic in Manhattan and th ... Read full article.