Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Manhattan gridlock worse than ever with congestion pricing paused – a look at the numbers
By
Stephen Nessen
and
Clayton Guse
Published Jun 14, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Stephen Nessen
and
Clayton Guse
Published Jun 14, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
This column originally appeared in On The Way, a weekly newsletter covering everything you need to know about NYC-area transportation.
Sign up to get the full version, which includes answers to reader questions, trivia, service changes and more, in your inbox every Thursday.
It’s been a week since Gov. Kathy Hochul dropped a bombshell by indefinitely pausing congestion pricing. Much of the attention since then has focused on the MTA losing $15 billion it had been counting on for subway repairs and upgrades.
But what about Hochul’s decision to maintain the status quo when it comes to traffic?
Traffic planner and former transportation commissioner Sam Schwartz says he’s never seen it this bad, going back to 1915.
“Congestion now is worse than it's been in history,” Schwartz told Gothamist. “Probably people in the 1800s were going faster than we are today.”
Here are a few data points on the state of the streets:
4.5 mph
Average Midtown travel traffic speed
At the peak of the pandemic, in March 2020, the average speed was 11.5 miles per hour.
716,150 vehicles
entering Manhattan below 60th Street every day
The MTA says 100,000 fewer cars would enter Manhattan with congestion pricing. The agency predicts traffic will only increase without the tolls.
85% of commuters
into the toll zone south of 60th Street use mass transit
The vast majority of people who commute to the city for work – 1.3 million – are getting there on public transit. Just 143,000 people drive into the toll zone for work.
$107,996
is the average annual income of those who drive into the congestion zone for work.
$88,407
Is the average annual income of people who use public transit to get to work in the congestion zone.
Those income figures come from the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, which used Census data to estimate commuter demographics.
$20 billion
in lost time every year.
Drivers stuck in traffic hurt New York’s economy through lost productivity, according to an estimate from the Partnership for New York, a pro-business group.
This week in New York City transit news
Listen here:
- Over the past year, Gov. Hochul made a series of passionate arguments in support of congestion pricing. Then she changed her mind. Behold: a video mash-up of Hochul debating herself. Watch it here.
- New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said Wednesday that Hochul’s move to halt congestion pricing may violate several state and federal laws, and he’s planning legal action to force her to move ahead with the tolling program. Read more.
- Did Hochul really change her stance on congestion pricing based on conversations with drivers at three Manhattan diners? We investigated.
- MTA Chair Janno Lieber said that once the construction scheduled for this summer's G train shutdown is completed, the line could potentially host full-sized subway trains if the demand is there. Read more.
- Over the last two years, as politicians have failed to deliver on promises to get safer e-bike batteries to delivery workers, another type of vehicle with a different set of safety concerns has emerged: gas-powered mopeds. Read more.
- The moped issue is particularly charged in Jackson Heights, where people have been riding them through the 26-block open street that’s become a permanent, vehicle-free park on 34th Avenue. Read more.
- Port Authority officials have announced plans to expand the use of license plate readers at crossings between Staten Island and New Jersey to crack down on car theft and other crimes. Read more.
- The Christopher Street 1 train station in the West Village is being renamed the Christopher Street-Stonewall National Monument station under a new state bill honoring the Stonewall Inn uprising of 1969. Read more.
Curious Commuter
Question from Kennedy, from Queens
Why aren’t there bike racks on the buses?
What Clayton says:
Other cities like Chicago have bike racks on the front of all public transit buses. In the Windy City, there are two spots to secure a two-wheeler on the front of a bus while cyclists ride inside. Here in New York, the MTA has only rolled out that type of equipment on a handful of routes that cross bridges like the Whitestone, Verrazzano-Narrows and Triborough, which don’t have bike lanes. The MTA has not announced a plan to install the racks on all 5,700 of its buses.
Tagged
new york city
manhattan
transportation
On The Way
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
Read more
Clayton Guse
Clayton is the editor of the Transit and Infrastructure desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .