MTA Says Congestion Pricing Revenues Beat Projections; Raised Nearly $49 Million in January

NEW YORK—Less than a week after President Trump and USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy revoked the federal government’s approval of New York City’s controversial tolling program, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority released data confirming that congestion pricing is raising revenues above expectations.

Late Monday afternoon (Feb. 24), the MTA released revenue numbers generated from the first three weeks of the Congestion Relief Zone. Since the congestion pricing program began on Sunday, Jan. 5, through Friday, Jan. 31, tolls from the CRZ generated $48.66 million in revenue with a net of $37.5 million putting the program on track to generate the $500 million that the MTA initially projected. Published reports had the MTA expecting approximately $40 million from the tolling program.

A total of $48.66 million was generated from the tolling program, 22% of which comes from taxis and for-hire vehicles ($10.6 million), 68% comes from passenger vehicles, 9% from trucks, and 1% from buses and motorcycles. 85% of non-taxi and for-hire vehicles revenue was generated from passenger vehicles and 15% from trucks, buses, and motorcycles. 95% of revenue was generated during peaking tolling hours. Expenses from the program including operating camera infrastructure and customer service amounted to $9.1 million and another $2 million for mitigation efforts totaling $11.1 million. This resulted in a net surplus of $37.5 million, MTA officials stated.

“With an initial performance in line with projections, we can confidently move forward with projects that rely on funds from the Congestion Relief Zone,” said MTA Chief Financial Officer Kevin Willens. “We look forward to seeing similar results in the coming months.”

“We are on track for the projected $500 million in net revenue, especially as we get into warmer months when traffic will increase which provides confidence in the forecast,” said MTA Co-Chief Financial Officer Jai Patel. “All indicators show the program is reducing traffic but also projecting the revenue to be on target for what we had in 4,000 pages of studies and what we were looking at in the fall.”

The revenue generated from the CRZ funds projects in the 2020 - 2024 Capital Program including making more stations accessible including Hollis and Forrest Hills Long Island Rail Road stations, installing modern signaling on Fulton St line in Brooklyn and Liberty Avenue in Queens on the A and C lines, new rolling stock including 44 new dual-mode LIRR locomotives, zero-emission buses, extending the Second Ave Subway into East Harlem, and more.

The MTA filed suit against the USDOT’s reversal and stressed that congestion pricing will remain in place during the litigation. Published reports New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has recently held talks with President Trump on the merits of the congestion pricing program.