All We’ve Lost: Congestion Pricing Should Have Started June 30

Congestion pricing should have started at the moment when this story was posted: 12:00:01 a.m. on Sunday, June 30, 2024.

It’s time to take stock of what we’ve lost because the MTA’s central business district cameras are not tolling drivers $15 during peak hours and $3.75 off-peak. Let’s review with the help of the Streetsblog Graphic Desk:

• Tolling was set to raise roughly $1 billion per year — or roughly $31 per second on average.
• Tolling was supposed to remove 153,000 cars every day from the central business district — or 1.78 cars per second.
• Tolling was supposed to eliminate more than 5.14 billion pounds of carbon dioxide entering our air every year — or 162 pounds per second.
• Tolling was supposed to reduce congestion and save New Yorkers a collective 14.6 million hours of time stuck in traffic.

So enjoy our graphic representation. And share it with your friends, loved ones … and state legislators (find your Assembly member here and your Senator here).