A year after New York City joined other major global cities that have implemented tolling programs to reduce traffic and air pollution, the controversial program appears to be working as planned. The move has not only improved the city’s air quality but also helped the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which implemented the new toll, reach its target this year of generating $500 million of revenue from the program after expenses, according to Bloomberg News.
The congestion pricing plan was introduced in 2025 to improve air quality and raise $15 billion to upgrade the city’s extensive — and aging — transit system. The move quickly faced heat with critics of the initiative like New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to Republican President Donald Trump warning that $9 fee on vehicles entering the area would severely affect economic activity there.
The New York experiment, it appears, may soon become a blueprint for other US urban centers, with early indicators pointing to a significant drop in pollution in parts of Manhattan, the Bloomberg reported. According to a Cornell University study, the measure has resulted in 11 percent decline in traffic in the tolled zone.
“I undoubtably see it as a success, in the reduction of traffic, the improvement of public safety and air quality and the funding of public transportation needs,” said Sarah Kaufman, director of New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation, according to Bloomberg News.
Fewer vehicles entered toll zone
As per Bloomberg report, an average 71,500 fewer vehicles entered the Central Business District each day through November.
The program also led to significant drop in traffic outside the zone, the report said. In Bronx, traffic delays decreased by 10% and 14% in 12 municipalities in Bergen County, New Jersey. Transit ridership increased across the region, and toll revenues help fund capital investments in public transit, the report said.
Nearly 23.7 million fewer vehicles have entered the area in the first eleven months of this year, Bloomberg reported quoting the MTA.
NYC’s toll set to bring in $548.3 million in 2025 to MTA
The congestion pricing plan has helped the MTA meet its goal to collect $500 million of net revenue in 2025 — or roughly $42 million a month from the new toll. As per Bloomberg, the agency is poised to surpass that target with an anticipated $548.3 million generated through December. The transit agency is mulling to sell its first-ever congestion-pricing bonds in 2026, secured by the new toll revenue, the report stated.
Congestion Relief Zone toll revenue will fund $15 billion in capital improvements to the MTA network.
As per the Bloomberg report, the transit agency will issue $15 billion of such debt to help modernise train signals, add elevators to subway stations and extend the Second Avenue subway to Harlem.
Even with the toll, the city pulled in $9.9 billion of sales-tax revenue from January through November, reporting a 6.3% growth compared with the same period in 2024.