New York City Taxi Data Show Rides Are as Slow as Before the Congestion Charge

New York’s congestion pricing program appears to have produced only a temporary improvement in traffic speeds in Manhattan, according to a new analysis of hundreds of millions of taxi trips that also identifies when drivers are most likely to get stuck in Midtown traffic.The analysis examined 334 million yellow taxi trips recorded by the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission between January 2019 and July 2026.During the first year of congestion pricing, the area below 60th Street gained about two percent in speed compared with the untolled portion of Manhattan above 60th Street. By the first seven months of 2026, however, that difference had effectively disappeared, the research by UrbanCalc’s Thatcher Clay found.“Two years on, the net difference between the tolled zone and its control is indistinguishable from zero,” Mr. Clay wrote, while cautioning that a full year of 2026 data is still needed.Congestion pricing began in January 2025, charging most passenger vehicles with E-ZPass $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours.Beyond congestion pricing, the taxi records reveal some clear patterns about when Midtown traffic is at its worst.DecemberDecember is the slowest month of the year. Taxis traveling through Midtown averaged just 4.10 miles per hour in December, compared with 6.39 miles per hour in January , which is a 36 percent difference.In 2024, all four of the slowest weeks of the year fell in December. The holiday shopping season, tourists and deliveries proved enough to make Midtown even slower than during one of New York’s most notorious traffic events: the U.N. General Assembly.UN General Assembly Week Across Midtown as a whole, U.N. week ranked only fifth among the slowest weeks of 2024.But around UN headquarters in Turtle Bay, the story changes dramatically. In the two taxi zones immediately next to the United Nations, General Assembly week was the slowest week of the year every year from 2019 through 2025.Traffic there during UN week moved about 30 percent slower than during the surrounding weeks.Monday Through Wednesday of UN WeekFor drivers who do have to travel near the United Nations during General Assembly week, the beginning of the week is particularly rough.Traffic Monday through Wednesday ran between 27 percent and 37 percent slower than normal, according to the analysis. By Friday, the disruption had largely disappeared.Pretty Much Anytime Between 7 AM and 7 PMMidtown does not appear to have a traditional morning and evening rush hour.Taxi speeds plunge around 7 am and then hover at roughly 5.2 miles per hour until around 7 pm, leading Clay to describe Midtown as having a “rush day” rather than a rush hour.Evenings and Nights Are Getting WorseThe traditional morning commute is not actually the part of the day deteriorating fastest.Since 2019, morning rush-hour speeds have declined about 8 percent. Evening speeds fell 17 percent, while nighttime speeds dropped 18 percent, according to the analysis.Overall, Midtown taxi speeds fell from 6.18 miles per hour in 2019 to 4.94 miles per hour in 2026, a decline of about 20 percent. Above 60th Street, speeds declined only 7.5 percent during the same period.There is one important limitation to the analysis: taxis are not the same thing as overall traffic. They stop for passengers, cruise for fares and are more likely to travel along certain streets. Clay describes taxi speeds as a proxy for how quickly Midtown is moving rather than a direct measure of every vehicle on the road.

New York City Taxi Data Show Rides Are as Slow as Before the Congestion Charge

New York City Taxi Data Show Rides Are as Slow as Before the Congestion Charge

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