Nearly a year after New York City implemented its congestion pricing program, research shows the policy is having an impact. Traffic is down in parts of Manhattan, while air pollution also has declined.
And the benefits extend far outside the target zone. Air pollution has fallen across the city’s five boroughs and the broader metropolitan area, a new study has found.
Published Monday, the research examines the effects of congestion pricing between January and June of 2025. The policy, which went into effect at the start of the year, aims to discourage drivers from entering parts of Manhattan by charging a toll in the borough’s central business district south of 60th Street.
The study combines real-world observations of traffic and pollution patterns with models that compare the policy’s effects with the pollution levels that would have been expected without congestion pricing. It finds that fine particulate matter, a common and harmful form of air pollution, fell by 3.05 micrograms per cubic meter of air, or 22 percent, within the congestion relief zone in the policy’s first six months.
