(The Center Square) — New York City’s controversial congestion pricing program that increased toll charges to get into the city hasn’t reduced tailpipe pollution, according to a new report.
The report by the New York City Health Department said the city’s air quality monitoring system found no increase in air pollution near major highway corridors outside of the tolling zone, with overall pollution levels either unchanged or improving slightly citywide.
“New Yorkers deserve to know how major policies affect the air they breathe,” Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin said in a statement. “This report gives us the clearest picture to date of how air quality has changed during the first year of congestion pricing, and we now know that air quality across New York City was not any different because of congestion pricing.”
New York’s first-in-the-nation toll for drivers entering Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone during peak hours got underway last January after a U.S. District Court judge denied New Jersey’s last-ditch push to keep the plan from going into effect. Under the program, passenger cars pay a $9 toll between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays and between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends.
Critics had argued that the higher tolls would hurt commuters and businesses, while doing little to reduce tailpipe pollution in one of the nation’s traffic-choked cities.
President Donald Trump, a native New Yorker, pledged on the campaign trail to “terminate” the toll, claiming it would cause businesses to leave the city.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul in February saying the Federal Highway Administration was pulling its approval of congestion pricing and would work with New York State on an “orderly termination of the tolls.”
Duffy called congestion pricing a “slap in the face” to working-class Americans and small business owners and set a deadline to shut the program down. The city filed a lawsuit seeking to block the move. In April, Duffy told Hochul the transportation department might withhold environmental approvals or project funding if the state does not end congestion pricing. Hochul declined.
But a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order in May barring the transportation department from enforcing a directive to shut down the program.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has boasted that congestion pricing has “been a once-in-a-lifetime success story” for New York City, and has “yielded huge benefits: reduced gridlock, faster trips, safer streets, and cleaner air, all while unlocking critical funding for mass transit upgrades.”
Following the release of the health department’s report, city leaders tried to put a positive spin on the findings by pointing out that congestion pricing has reduced traffic and provided funding for transit upgrades and pollution mitigation.
“Before we turned the cameras on, there was concern about the potential for increased pollution caused by drivers looking to avoid the toll,” Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in a statement. “As this study confirms, that didn’t happen, and congestion pricing is already funding additional investments to further improve air quality.”
