NEW YORK (PIX11) -- It takes something big to alter travel around the region. Commuters have patterns and routines.
After one month, congestion pricing has changed the way thousands of people move.
The program has been in place since Sunday, January 5th. The MTA has been collecting travel data. You can see the result along many streets and at the bridges and tunnels.
Some commuters are paying the toll for travel south of 60th Street in Manhattan except on the FDR, the West Side Highway and the street to the Hugh L. Carey tunnel.
The MTA says they're getting back some time, bus commuters are traveling faster and emergency vehicles are moving efficiently.
Some business owners fear the number of customers will drop.
Everyone is looking at the traffic shift, including some areas where it seems to have increased.
The agency reports 10% to 30% faster trips in the past month at bridges and tunnels.
At the Holland Tunnel, travel time was nearly cut in half according to numbers from the MTA.
"The impact and what we studied and planned for seems to be happening,” said MTA Deputy Policy Chief Juliette Michaelson.
Watching from more than 1400 cameras at 110 detection points, the MTA says now on an average weekday 490,000 vehicles enter the commercial district, which is down about 9% compared to the same time the last three years.
Nearly all of the north and southbound avenues and most cross streets are showing faster travel times.
Slower times are reported along the FDR Southbound, 9th Avenue, and 23rd Street and 42nd Street Westbound.
The MTA will look at the areas with some slowing, including the South Bronx.
“We want there to be less traffic and less congestion everywhere. But you can't reduce that do that there and give us the burden,” said Mychal Johnson with South Bronx Unite.
The MTA has promised more than $100 million in air quality and environmental projects, including in the South Bronx. It’s in the planning stages. Congestion pricing will pay for it along with financing $15 billion in transit improvements.
Subway ridership is up on weekdays and weekends. The MTA says there is room for the extra riders as the systems are not yet back to pre-pandemic levels.
On the railroads, the LIRR is steady systemwide with increases noted at Douglaston, New Hyde Park, Garden City, Woodmere, and Ronkonkoma. Metro-North is up about 11 percent.
MTA officials have not announced data about revenue from tolls in the first month. They say that will happen later in February.
The fee from taxi and for-hire vehicle rides is reported at the end of the month.
“Broadly speaking, the level is in the ballpark of what we projected,” said MTA Chairman Janno Lieber.
The MTA says bus times have improved and schedules will be reviewed.
Some legal challenges are still pending, while somehow have been dismissed.
The Trump administration has vowed to “terminate” the program. Cancellation could face a legal challenge, or federal funding could be used as a negotiation point.
Governor Hochul says she is talking to the President.
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