One Year Later: Is Congestion Pricing Working For the Bronx?
For years now, I have been talking about and debating congestion pricing in New York. I have a master article on all its pros and cons here.
A year into the program, most environmental and urbanism groups are calling it a success.
Both in the congestion pricing zone and the city as a whole…
- Traffic is down
- Noise and pollution is down
- Bus speeds are up
- Business is doing well
- The MTA is getting money it needs to improve New York’s transit.
As early as March, polls already showed that New Yorkers like it now more than before it launched.
All of this is true in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. But what about the Bronx?
Summary: One Year Into Congestion Pricing…
- Air quality is a mixed story in the Bronx, improving some months but worsening others, although one major study showed its trending in a positive direction even near the Cross Bronx.
- Major crossings into the Bronx like the Triboro have increased traffic some months, decreased traffic other months
- The MTA has not begun implementating the promised “mitigation” measures.
For The Bronx, Congestion Pricing is a Complicated Story
Since congestion pricing is partly an “environmental justice,” policy, we have to talk about the epicenter of environmental injustice.
Well before congestion pricing, the Bronx has had the highest levels of asthma in the city by far. 2020 city data put it at 21%. The city average is 14%.
This means kids miss school days. It means higher medical bills. It means health problems down the road.
We know this public health situation is caused by the amount of trucks and cars that go through the Bronx.
The Hunts Point Market is the hub for most of New York City’s food. Major highways like the Cross Bronx, The Bruckner, and The Deegan bring in goods from all over the country, through the Bronx, to its final destination.
Much of the Bronx waterfront, like the Harlem River Yards, are zoned for industry which often brings more and more trucks.
The Bronx bears these burdens for the city and region.
This is the context under which congestion pricing comes to the forefront of New York’s environmental movement, and New York City politics in general.
The MTA’s Own Environmental Assessment Predicted The Bronx Would See Worse Traffic
That’s right, worse. It’s in chapter 17 of its assessment.
Why? The theory was that, to avoid the tolls, trucks in particular (who can’t just switch to taking the train), would go through the Bronx instead of through Manhattan.
To a borough and to communities already unfairly burdened by traffic and pollution, this was a non-starter.
An environmental justice group in my neighborhood, South Bronx Unite, put it nicely. They said the organization “supports congestion pricing in principle — but not at the cost of further polluting the South Bronx, which has among the highest childhood asthma rates in the country.”
As such, they and other Bronx groups advocated against congestion pricing in its current form.
After all, they borough with the worst traffic-induced public health crisis shouldn’t see their situation made worse.
One Year Later, The Story of Traffic is Mixed
The MTA, as Part of Congestion Pricing, Committed to $330 Million in Mitigation
In response to these critiques, the MTA said that congestion pricing would fund $330 in mitigation across the region where the MTA predicted worsened traffic.
A chunk of this would go to the Bronx.
These mitigation measures included…
- Air filters for schools near highways
- Several thousand trees near highways
- Establishment of a Bronx asthma center
- Electric truck charging infrastruction
There are more details that you can read about.
I’ll turn again to South Bronx Unite for the critique of this. They said, “We welcome all pollution mitigation measures for the South Bronx and for any pollution-burdened community, but they should not be dangled in front of us as a bargaining chip for adding more pollution to the area.”
I would add to this and say that if you’re going to stand for reducing pollution to those communities most burdened, you must do that before making the situation work.
Now congestion pricing is live. We have data. What does it say?
The Data So Far Shows That Traffic is About The Same
There are several data points to look at.
March 2025 Truck Diversion Study
First is a study by Sam Schwartz and Hunter College that looked at truck diversions from the Bronx and Staten Island. They write, “There is no evidence to support any significant diversion of trucks through the Bronx.”
What I like about this study is they break down why this is the case too. As their graph shows, even with the congestion pricing toll, going through Manhattan still costs about the same in tolls.
It varies by the type of truck and the route. Here’s one example:
“A 5-axle truck avoiding the congestion zone would save just $3 by using the Cross-Bronx, a notoriously slow route. For through trucks that take the Queensboro Bridge the Bronx route is $31 more expensive!”
That is encouraging news for the Bronx.
April 2025 Traffic Delay Study
In April, the Regional Plan Association looked the difference in traffic delays between January and April and compared it to 2024.
They argue that congestion pricing has had a positive impact on Bronx traffic. “The hours lost to traffic jams decreased by 17%, of which 10% can be attributed to [congestion pricing]. Bronx drivers saved 10 minutes for every hour drivers spent in traffic in 2024.”
Again, encouraging news.
September 2025 Uber Time Study
To assess the traffic of cars, Charles Komanoff looked at the speed from rideshares going through the South Bronx. He reported that the “slight downward turn wasn’t statistically significant. The bottom line is that traffic speeds in Mott Haven–Port Morris have neither deteriorated nor improved with congestion pricing.”
It’s another data point that traffic is about same.
September 2025 MTA Triboro Data
Finally, Komanoff looked at the daily truck volumes the MTA Bridges and Tunnels and reported that, even though there are more trucks across MTAs bridges and tunnels overall, the Bronx side of the Triboro has a slight decrease.
Once again, traffic seems about the same.
Air Quality in the Bronx Since Congestion Pricing: Mixed Results
Traffic is easier to get data on than air quality. However, there’s one study published in nature by Cornell researchers looked at the PM 2.5 readings in air quality monitors around the region. (PM 2.5 refers to particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers, caused by traffic, and shown to pose serious long-term health risks.)
One of these monitors was in the East Bronx along the Cross Bronx Expressway. Here’s what they wrote about the data on that monitor: “[The(Cross Bronx Station] PM2.5 levels did not decline immediately and even rose slightly in March, possibly reflecting increased traffic rerouting around the CRZ. A gradual decline emerged from April onward, suggesting a delayed response as traffic patterns adjusted.”
Near the Cross Bronx air quality was worse in March compared to previous years, improved in other months, but then was worse again in June.
What are we to make of this? Like real life, the data doesn’t show a clear story.
At worst, it looks like there’s truth the MTA’s environmental assessment, and that traffic is rerouting to the Bronx, specifically the South Bronx and its numerous truck-heavy routes. At best, it looks like the trend is that air quality is improving in the Bronx, even if there are months of worse air quality. I think for me, it’s a wash right now for the Bronx.
Perhaps the congestion pricing zone should have been in the South Bronx and East Harlem, where air quality is among the worst and asthma levels the highest?
But, there’s another element here in favor of congestion pricing, because the program is suposed to bring transit funding to the borough.
What Will Congestion Pricing Fund in the Bronx?
So what’s the Bronx getting from the $15 billion bond package that the MTA is funding with the congestion pricing tolls? You can see the full list here on the MTA’s website.
First, improvements across the subway system, like the signal upgrades, improve service in the Bronx. Fixing an issue on a 5 train in Brooklyn helps that same 5 train when it’s in the Bronx.
Station Improvements (like elevators, ramps, or general upgrades)
There are also specific Bronx stations that are getting improvements.
6 Train: 3rd Ave-138th St, Brook Ave, E 149th St, Parkchester
4, 5 Train: Kingsbridge Rd, Fordham Rd
1 Train: 242nd St
2 Train: Wakefield-241st St
B, D Train: 167th St
The congestion pricing funds will also help buses at the Easchester and Gun Hill (Baychester) bus depots go electric.
So Is Congestion Pricing Working for the Bronx?
On the surface, here’s what we know.
- Traffic and air pollution in the Bronx seems about the same.
- Money is coming to improve transit in all of New York City, including the Bronx.
- The Bronx will still receive the concessions the MTA agreed to initially.
On the facts, it seems like the Bronx, in exchange for a status quo, received a piece of the pie.
This sounds like a win, but is it?
As The New York Environmental Movement Celebrates, the Bronx Still Chokes
Manhattan has seen radical improvements, literally overnight, in its quality of life. To a lesser extent so have Brooklyn and Queens.
While most of the rest of the city is getting the benefits of cleaner air and safer streets, overburdened communities in the Bronx are continuing to breathe poisonous air.
Residents near Bronx highways like the Cross Bronx, Major Deegan, and Bruckner Expressway continue to suffer from some of the highest asthma levels in the city.
The transit improvements will happen slowly over many years.
To call it a “win” for the Bronx ignores that the area that needed congestion mitigation the most has gotten it the least.
This brings me to a final thought exercise.
Should Something Like Congestion Pricing Be in the Bronx?
After all, even though the South Bronx on average 0.32 cars per household, it has some of the most cars passing through. Why not toll the cars on the numerous free bridges that connect the Bronx and Manhattan?
I made an argument for this on a TikTok, and got ripped to shreds in the comments.
I don’t know the exact policy solution.
But the point that I think holds up is that future environmental and public health policies must focus on the areas that need it most. People in the Bronx shouldn’t be “happy” that a policy which benefitted most of the city overnight and was supposed to hurt them, has turned out to maintain the borough’s status quo of pollution.
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