In May 2024 I wrote on how the Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul had suspended what was then called the Central Business District Tolling Program. It would have been the first proper congestion charge in the USA, in the sense that it applied a charge to driving on existing roads to manage demand, and generate revenue.
Hochul suspended it for multiple reasons, but a key one was to defer the risk of its introduction costing the Democratic Party support in the November Federal Election for the House of Representatives.
With that all over, and with the perceived risk that the forthcoming Trump Administration may cancel the program, it is all "go".
The New York scheme is now called the Congestion Relief Zone and it will be in operation on 5 January.
All of the equipment is in place, it is ready to go, and with the passage of the Federal election, the Congestion Relief Zone in New York will go live on 5 January. It was suspended in June, purportedly for policy reasons, but primarily a mix of concern over lawsuits and the effect the charge would have had on the elections to the House of Representatives.
The main change to the suspended scheme is a reduction in the peak time price from US$15 to US$9.
It's not clear whether the daytime period remains as previously proposed (0500-2100 weekdays and 0900-2100 weekends), but it is clear that the daytime charges will range from US$4.50 for motorcycles, US$9 for cars and up to US$21.60 for large trucks and sightseeing buses. Commuter buses will be exempt.
A per-trip surcharge of US$0.75 applies to taxis and black cars, and US$1.50 for app-placed trips (e.g. Uber).
The off-peak discount is apparently 75%, explicitly to encourage off-peak truck deliveries. Albeit, the case for having any charges between 2200 and 0500 appears to be low.
The price will not increase until 2028 when it can be raised to US$12 for cars (with proportion increases for other vehicle classes) through to 2030.
The charge is expected to enable borrowing of around US$15b in bonds to support the capital program of the New York MTA including:
· Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 extension to East Harlem
· Replacing signaling on 6 lines
· Improving accessibility at 20 stations
· New electric buses
A range of other projects are listed, including renovating parks and greenspaces.
The scheme is forecast to reduce VMT in Manhattan by 5% and a 10% reduction in the number of vehicles entering lower Manhattan. The charge is also being accompanied by other measures to reduce congestion including:
· Expanding enforcement of intersection blocking also known as “blocking the box” violations
· Expanding use of weigh-in-motion technology to enforce weight limits of trucks
· Raising threshold value for removing abandoned vehicles
· Permitting the City to impose surcharges on permits for construction that remove traffic lanes.
What next?
New York has around six weeks before the Congestion Relief Zone comes into effect, but there is a lot to do. A campaign to inform motorists of the coming zone will be critical, and it will be essential for as many as possible to be informed of what they need to do to be compliant with it. As a majority of vehicles entering lower Manhattan already have toll tag accounts for the multiple New York and New Jersey toll roads and crossings (Lincoln and Holland Tunnels carry the traffic from New Jersey and both are tolled), this should be easy for them. The real cost will come from the tens of thousands of occasional visitors, particular from the remainder of Manhattan which don’t have toll tag accounts.
Eyes will be on the impacts of the charge, the capacity of the bus, subway and rail networks to handle increases in demand, and the profile of demand on the road network, but I suspect the greatest impact will be in reducing frequency of trips. Irregular travel will reduce. There will be modest modal shift, but the real impact will be shifting of some commercial demand to the off-peak period and reduction in trip frequencies.
The press release from the Governor claims motorists will "save" US$1500 per annum, but this is comparing the price schedule now to the one previously proposed. It is being sold as being an improvement by being lower price, but it is still a new charge for driving into lower Manhattan. This press release covers the positive comments from multiple state and city politicians supportive of the plan.
A lot of the details have not been announced, but I expect most of what was previously announced will continue. These details will need to be confirmed in the coming weeks, but all going well, the New Year will see New York as the next city globally to introduce congestion charging, and the first in the USA.
Yes its primary focus is in raising money, it would not be happening if the pressure to raise revenue to fund public transport renewals and improvements were not so high, and it is a blunt scheme that will not do much to change time of travel.
As I wrote before, it almost certainly is not a model for the rest of the US to follow, but the principle should hopefully be a success. It should reduce congestion, it should raise a lot of money and enable the city to operate more efficiently. Let's hope it proves to be a great success.
