NEW YORK — Rail ridership — both on the subways and the commuter rail network — is up in the first three weeks of congestion-zone tolls, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board was told in a presentation on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.
Overall, the agency said the number of vehicles entering the congestion pricing zone — lower Manhattan, below 60th Street — has decreased by more than 1 million since the start of tolling on Jan. 5 [see “Judge turns down New Jersey bid …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 4, 2025]. Inbound trips on Hudson and East River crossings are 10% to 30% faster, according to data by TRANSCOM, a regional traffic management agency.
“Before the start of congestion relief, talk of lawsuits and doubts dominated the conversation, but now it’s the undeniably positive results we’ve been seeing since week one,” MTA CEO Janno Lieber said in a press release. “Better bus service, faster drive times, and safer streets are good for all New Yorkers.”
Subway ridership in January 2025 is up 7.3% on weekdays and 12.2% on weekends compared to January 2024, according to MTA statistics. That compares to increases of 4% to 6% on weekdays and 9% to 14% on weekends in fall 2024 vs. fall 2023.
On the Metro-North Railroad, January ridership is up 11% compared to January 2024, while December ridership was up 7% compared to December 2023. On the Long Island Railroad, January ridership was up 13% in January compared to January 2024; in December, ridership had increased by 15% compared to December 2023. Ridership from five selected Long Island Rail Road stations (Douglaston, New Hyde Park, Garden City, Woodmere, and Ronkonkoma) was up from 18% to 26%, outpacing December growth by 5% to 16%.
New York City Transit bus ridership has seen a 21% increase on express routes and 7% on other routes, the MTA says, with the express buses seeing time savings of up to 10 minutes.
The MTA is making ridership and other transit and traffic data available at the MTA Metrics webpage, based on information from the New York State open data portal.
What is not understood is why no figures from PATH who serves the World Trade Center. It may be no change or even a small drop as more from NJ would drive to less congestion.
The other side of the coin is faster rides from NJ thru the tunnels.
Manhattan congestion tolling is entirely a local decision authorized by the governor and legislature legitimately elected by the people of the State of New York. I might (or might not) have a personal opinion, but I don’t vote in New York State.
The flip side is, there is no reason for federal funding for MTA. Except for the tunnels also used by Amtrak. While Trump is over the top in much of what he says and does, he has a legitimate point —- it’s not the business of the federal government to put money into every outstretched hand.
Amtrak should be 100% federally funded (cut the nonsense of the 750-mile rule), and local transporation should be 100% state and local funded.