NYC congestion pricing begins Sunday: What you need to know

NEW YORK — Congestion tolling is scheduled to start on January 5 in NYC, barring any last minute legal challenges.

The path to this point has been long and confusing — so drivers have many questions about the MTA’s plan to reduce congestion and raise funds for mass transit improvements.

Here’s what you need to know:

When exactly does it start?

Congesting tolling is scheduled to start just after midnight the morning of Sunday, Jan. 5.

What is the “Congestion Relief Zone?”

Any motorist entering Manhattan at 60th Street or below on surface streets will be tolled.

How much will the toll be?

It depends on what you’re driving, as well as the time of day.

Those behind the wheel of ordinary passenger vehicles — cars, SUVs and pickup trucks — will be charged $9 for entering the zone between the hours of 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays, or 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends.

Larger vehicles — trucks and non-commuter buses — will be charged more: $14.40 for buses and smaller box-trucks, $21.60 for big rigs.

Motorcycles will be charged the least, with a base toll of $4.50.

Will they go up?

Yes, the tolls are expected to increase over time. By law, the toll is required to raise $15 billion towards the MTA’s capital budget — a figure that the MTA plans to reach by selling bonds backed by tolling revenue.

In order to back those bonds, the base toll will go up to $12 in 2028, and will rise to $15 in 2031

Are there ever reduced tolls?

Overnight tolls will be significantly lower — $2 for those in regular passenger vehicles, less than the cost of a subway or bus ride.

How will I be billed?

The best rate — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s advertised rate of $9 once a day for ordinary cars — is only for drivers with an EZPass transponder. Drivers in the same type of vehicle, but without an EZPass, will be charged $13.50 — the base toll-by-mail rate.

MTA officials say the EZPass transponders issued by any state will work — except in the case of discounted rates, which will require a New York-issued EZPass.

And drivers should make sure their EZPass account is up to date with their current plate number before tolling starts on January 5. It’s important that a driver’s license plate match the EZPass attached to the car, MTA officials say.

Due to the traffic density on the roads leading into the congestion zone, the system will first look at a vehicle’s license plate, and then try to match it to an EZPass transponder signal. If a license plate is not tied to an EZPass, the driver will be charged the toll-by-mail rate, regardless of whether or not there’s a transponder in the car.

What if I leave the congestion zone and then go back, will I be charged twice?

Ordinary motorists — those who drive the everyday cars, SUVs or pickup trucks subject to the $9 toll — can only be charged once a day. There’s a big exception for larger vehicles, though. Trucks and buses will be charged each time they enter the zone.

For drivers subject to the once-a-day toll, the system will reset at midnight. That means drivers who enter the zone in the early morning hours — before 5 a.m. on a weekday — will be charged only the 75% discounted overnight rate that day.

Are there any roads that are exempt from tolling?

The West Side Highway, the FDR Drive, and the Battery Park Underpass — the tunnel under the Battery that links FDR Drive to the West Side Highway — are all deemed to be outside the congestion pricing zone. A driver who rounds the horn of Manhattan on the highways from the Upper West to the Upper East sides, for example, will not be charged a congestion toll.

Is the West Side Highway south of 57th Street considered a highway or a surface street?

An exempt highway.

What about coming off the bridges and the tunnels?

That depends on the bridge or tunnel.

If you enter Manhattan at the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and drive directly up to the Upper East or Upper West sides north of 60th St. without leaving the highways, you will not be charged.

Likewise, a driver who goes between the Brooklyn Bridge and the FDR drive using the on-ramps between the two will stay off of surface streets and therefore not be charged. Similarly, the connection between the West Side Highway and the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel is not considered part of the congestion zone.

But not all the bridges and tunnels connect directly to the highways — so you’re going to pay.

Drivers coming down the West Side Highway to get to the Holland or Lincoln Tunnels — or headed down the FDR with an eye towards the Williamsburg, Manhattan, or Queensboro bridges or the Queens-Midtown Tunnel — will have to first jump on surface streets — and will therefore be charged.

Likewise, drivers coming into Manhattan off those bridges and tunnels into city streets will pay.

So if I take the Holland or Lincoln Tunnels and pay that toll coming in from New Jersey, I get tolled again when entering Manhattan?

Yes. But during daytime hours — from 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays, or 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends — the MTA will discount part of the tunnel toll with what they’re calling a “crossing credit.”

For the Holland and Lincoln tunnels, the crossing credit will start at $3 for ordinary drivers and climb to $5 by the time the full toll phases in in 2031. For the Brooklyn-Battery and Queens-Midtown tunnels, the credit will start at $1.50, and rise to $2.50.

What about gridlock days?

The congestion pricing plan as approved allows the MTA discretion to tack a 25% surcharge onto the toll on days declared by the city’s Transportation Department to be “gridlock alert days.”

Those days, said to be the heaviest traffic days of the year, typically come with the winter holidays and the United Nations’ General Assembly. The city DOT declared 20 such days this year.

If invoked, that would raise the base toll to $11.25 on those days.

Hochul last month indicated that she would put the kibosh on gridlock-day hikes.

Will it cost more to take a taxi or an Uber into midtown?

Taxis, Ubers, Lyfts and other for-hire vehicles with Taxi and Limousine Commission plates will be assessed a surcharge on every trip into the zone and that charge will be added to a passenger’s fare.

Those surcharges will start at 75 cents for taxis and $1.50 for rideshare cars like Uber and Lyft. In 2028, that’ll increase to $1 for taxis and $2 for Ubers and Lyfts. In 2031, it will go up to $1.50 for taxis and $2.50 for Ubers and Lyfts.

So, what’s the best way to avoid the congestion tolls if I’m going to New Jersey?

No one will be tolled for leaving the congestion zone, only for entering.

If you drive from north of the congestion zone and cross the Hudson on the George Washington Bridge, you can avoid the toll — similarly, New Jersey drivers entering Manhattan via the G.W. but staying north of 60th will not be tolled.

What about getting to or from the other boroughs?

The Harlem River crossings — including the Triborough/RFK Bridge and the various bridges connecting Manhattan to the Bronx, such as the Macombs Dam Bridge near Yankee Stadium — are outside the congestion zone.

Most of the East River crossings — specifically the Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro bridges, as well as the Queens-Midtown tunnel — connect on the Manhattan side only to surface streets within the zone, so drivers will be tolled.

But since the Brooklyn Battery tunnel and the Brooklyn Bridge are accessible directly from the FDR Drive or the West Side Highway, motorists using the crossings from those roads won’t be charged.

The Brooklyn Bridge has several entrances that are on city streets, however, and any driver using those will be tolled.

Are there discounts available?

There are limited discounts available.

Drivers with a federal adjusted gross income of less than $50,000 last year can to get a 50% discount off the daytime rate for any trips made after the first 10 in each calendar month.

New Yorkers who live in Manhattan at 60th Street or below — in other words, within the zone — can apply for a tax credit matching the amount spent in tolls, but only if they make $60,000 or less per year.

Full exemptions are also available for vehicles that are used to transport people who have disabilities or health conditions that prevent them from using transit — whether those are driven by those people themselves, or by caregivers.

Applications for those exemptions or discounts can be found on the MTA’s website.

Those seeking the discounts will need to have an EZPass issued by New York state in their vehicle — which can be obtained even by drivers with out-of-state plates.

Could congestion pricing stop once it starts?

Some congestion pricing opponents have said they will continue to push for the program to end or to be significantly changed, and there are still several legal challenges making their way through the federal court system.

But a federal judge in Manhattan last month ruled in New York’s favor to continue the plan, and barring any last minute injunction in other jurisdictions, the tolling is set to start Sunday morning.