NEW YORK, NY — JUNE 18, 2025 — Regional Plan Association (RPA), today published new analysis which shows that the Central Business District Tolling Program (CBDTP) has reduced traffic delays not only within the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ) but outside it as well.
Previously, RPA estimated that the time savings associated with the CBDTP could provide as much as $1.3 billion in value for commuters, with some of the biggest wins for those using personal vehicles or buses to commute to the CRZ from New Jersey. Since implementation, average trip times for buses have decreased 17% at the Lincoln Tunnel and 48% at the Holland Tunnel.
Now RPA’s latest, “Congestion Pricing: Faster All Around” shows that the benefits of the CBDTP spill out well beyond the borders of the CRZ; they are felt in the boroughs and counties surrounding the CRZ as well.
Key findings from the report include:
Traffic delays in Manhattan are 25% lower than would be expected without the CBDTP.
Traffic delays in the region outside of Manhattan are 9% lower than would be expected without the CBDTP.
Manhattan’s post-holiday delay reductions (the congestion easing we see after November/December) would be ~21% without implementation of the CBDTP; with implementation traffic delays in the new year and spring are actually 40% lower.
Without the CBDTP, post-holiday delay reductions outside of Manhattan are expected to be 9%; with the program, they are instead 17%.
Traffic delays in the Bronx are down 10% with CBDTP.
Traffic delays in twelve municipalities in Bergen County are down 14% with CBDTP.
Staten Island is largely unaffected, showing a modest delay decrease of 5%.
To understand the extent of the positive spillover RPA analyzed traffic delays in the region since congestion pricing was implemented (January 5, 2025) through the end of April 2025 with the same period in 2024. They also compared traffic delays with the months leading up to congestion pricing’s implementation using data made available from Waze through a partnership program they maintain with public sector partners. RPA accessed the data through the MTA’s Bridges and Tunnels’ Waze Partner Portal.
“Our analysis shows that, contrary to pessimistic expectations, the congestion pricing program is not causing traffic to be diverted outside the Congestion Relief Zone. Instead, as more people choose transit, trips to Manhattan by car are averted, resulting in less, not more traffic in the Bronx, Bergen County, and all around the region,” said Rachel Weinberger, Vice President of Research Strategy at RPA. “We see a reduction in traffic jams and increased overall time savings both within and outside the Zone.”
“RPA’s latest research shows congestion pricing is delivering clear benefits - saving people time and the aggravation of being stuck in traffic. The research provides more evidence that the congestion pricing program is working to reduce traffic, both within the five boroughs of New York and within Bergen, Hudson, Essex, and Union Counties in New Jersey,” said Kate Slevin, Executive Vice President of RPA.
To read the full report, please visit: https://rpa.org/news/lab/congestion-pricing-getting-around-faster-all-around
