Since the January launch of New York City’s congestion toll, the speeds of Access-A-Ride vehicles in the “relief zone” south of 60th Street are up 5%, according to data from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), as compared to the same time period in 2024. Travel times also dropped for the service, changing the minds of many former skeptics of the toll.
Citywide, Access-A-Ride reliability fell to its lowest level in years in 2021, when on-time performance sunk to 70% for the broker car services that provide the bulk of the program’s trips – evidenced by rising customer complaints and driver no-shows.
Between the start of congestion pricing and the end of January, 94.6% of for-hire vehicles (FHVs) picked up their passengers in Manhattan within 20 minutes of scheduled pickup times. During the same period in 2024, their on-time performance stood at 91%. That figure also improved in February, when 94.9% of FHVs arrived within 20 minutes. Last February, FHVs hit 20 minutes or less 90.6% of the time.
The 143,027 trips through the congestion relief zone in the first two months of this year accounted for 9% of all Access-A-Ride trips citywide. The improvements for New Yorkers with disabilities mark another gain for the vehicle-tolling scheme, which President Donald Trump is trying to squash.
Source: The City
