Traffic Tax
By Catherine Nguyen 2/12/2025
The bustling streets of Manhattan are a cacophony of honking, engines and road rage. The traffic stretches through the streets, miles of cars create constant and unrelenting gridlock. The solution: congestion pricing, or a toll for the drivers. The new congestion price will help streets move, allowing for the increase of public transportation and less traffic, while simultaneously raising funds to modernize the subway system.
As of Jan. 5, drivers now must pay nine dollars to enter Manhattan south of Central Park between five a.m. to nine p.m. on weekdays, and between nine a.m. to nine p.m. on weekends via charges sent to E-Z passes at over 100 detection sites; although, for off hours the price is lowered to $2.25 and the fees vary for ride share apps, truck drivers and motorcyclists. Nonetheless, the responses have been mixed.
However, as per AP News, President Donald Trump has vowed to clear the program. He claims that businesses will flee because of this new polling system, and that New York City will be at a disadvantage over competing cities and states because of this. Some residents are hopeful that the program will lessen the frequent honking and the bottlenecks that the traffic has caused, but some transit riders are skeptical about the effectiveness that the funding will have towards the transit system.
“I think that although the poll tax is well intended, it's unreasonable for New Yorkers. I can't imagine paying $9 just to enter the city. I think this can be especially detrimental to the essential workers (teachers, first responders, medical professionals), who often cannot live in the city yet need to commute daily for their jobs,” Junior Litong Nie said.
However, the money collected for the MTA through the poll will help with their financial issues, thus contributing to their goals of modernizing the subway system and improving the quality of public transportation, which allows for an improved alternative for driving. In 2024, the MTA lost $15 billion in expected funding when Gov. Hochul canceled the original congestion pricing in June. Furthermore, as per a 2023 report by the MTA, they lost $315 million because of bus fare evasion and $285 million from subway fare beaters--this problem seems to be common in New York, as the MTA has noted that 48% of bus riders fail to pay bus fares for the first three months of 2024. Experts say that they might be emboldened because of the slowness and unreliability from the lack of bus lanes and heavy traffic—the poll tax could help with this traffic, and the funding could go to improving the bus system for Manhattan.
Increased public transit has already been shown to be happening, as according to the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), the ridership for their buses has gone up nine percent compared to 2024—furthermore, the average weekday entries into the highway zone fell about 7.5% compared to the average weekday in January of last year, as per the MTA. The less vehicles on the road suggest less traffic, demonstrating the effectiveness of the poll tax so far.
“I would pay the poll tax if I could see changes to the transportation system. I would try to make differences and help the system, especially if it will help with the traffic. I would not want to be stuck in traffic all day long,” Sophomore Shine Lee said.
The polling system in Manhattan is similar to those of London and Stockholm--both were largely unpopular when first implemented, but gained approval from the public with the less traffic and faster bus speeds. As the polling system has shown similar results in its first few weeks, it may help improve the quality of the roads and transportation in New York City.
About the Contributors
Catherine Nguyen
Writer
Catherine Nguyen is a staff writer and artist for the Charger account. This is her second year in journalism. She loves drawing and listening to music.
Ryan Park
Artist
Ryan Park is an Artist for Advanced Journalism in Leland High School. He wants to be able to improve his drawing skills during his time in Journalism. He likes watching anime, hanging out with his friends, and going to the gym.
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