The MTA has sold congestion pricing as a simple tolling scheme: $15 during the day for vehicles that enter Manhattan south of 60th Street. Drivers are exempt from the tolls if they stay on the FDR Drive, West Side Highway and Battery Park Underpass.
But about two months before the MTA hopes to flip the switch and begin tolling, the agency has confirmed it’s not quite that simple.
Certain exits on both the Queensboro and Brooklyn bridges will be tolled differently. One route on the Queensboro Bridge avoids the toll, while some drivers crossing the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan will face an unexpected charge despite taking an exit for the FDR, which is exempt from the toll.
The MTA confirmed the new details about which of the bridges’ exits will be subject to tolls after several days of inquiries from Gothamist. The toll structure even came as a surprise to “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz, the prominent former city traffic commissioner who has studied congestion pricing in detail.
“You shouldn’t have to be a Talmudic scholar or Gridlock Sam to figure out all the nuances of which roads will be charged and how much and when,” Schwartz said.
MTA officials said they followed a basic rule when determining which roads were tolled: Do drivers touch city streets? If they only drive on an overpass that goes above a city street, they’re not tolled.
Who gets tolled on the Brooklyn Bridge?
Drivers headed to the FDR Drive will face different outcomes depending on which direction they go.
A driver on the Brooklyn Bridge taking the northbound exit for the FDR Drive will not be tolled because the ramp doesn’t touch down on any city street.
A driver on the Brooklyn Bridge taking the southbound exit for the FDR Drive will be tolled, because that route travels on a city street for about 80 feet before entering the FDR.
“I don’t think that’s fair,” Schwartz said.
Transit Workers Union President John Samuelsen, who sat on the MTA’s Traffic Mobility Review Board that recommended the toll structure and exemptions, agreed.
“It’s absolutely not fair that a Brooklyn Bridge commuter who goes directly from the bridge to the FDR is charged,” Samuelsen texted. He said New Yorkers have been “explicitly” told the FDR was exempt from the toll.
“That should be honored. The MTA can easily remedy this,” Samuelsen said.
The MTA has said congestion pricing is designed to prevent “bridge shopping,” in which drivers avoid tolled crossings. The unexpected toll on the Brooklyn Bridge leads to the possibility that some drivers who might have crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and taken FDR Drive south will instead take the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, which costs $6.94 for E-ZPass users. That’s less than the $15 congestion pricing charge.
Drivers who use the Brooklyn Bridge to get out of the city will face new decisions. A driver on the Brooklyn Bridge bound for the George Washington Bridge will be tolled if they take the West Side Highway. A driver on the bridge who takes FDR Drive north to the George Washington will avoid the congestion toll.
Drivers traveling on the FDR Drive, either from the north or south, to the Brooklyn Bridge will not be tolled.
A congestion pricing toll reader at the Queensboro Bridge.
Stephen Nessen
Who gets tolled on the Queensboro Bridge?
Another quirk of the tolling zone can be found on the Queensboro Bridge’s multiple on and off ramps.
The bridge has three exits into Manhattan, but only one will be toll-free.
The upper roadway will deposit drivers on East 62nd Street, located outside the tolling zone.
Schwartz, who’s made his career in traffic planning, predicts this will create more traffic on the upper roadway.
All other exits from Manhattan-bound lanes on the Queensboro Bridge deposit drivers in the toll zone.
All drivers in Manhattan headed to Queens over the Queensboro Bridge will also be tolled.
Congestion pricing ‘education’
MTA officials said signage alerting drivers about the tolls will start appearing on streets feeding into the toll zone in the coming weeks.
“The MTA is confident that the tolling infrastructure will operate as designed to accurately assess the appropriate tolls on vehicles that enter the congestion relief zone,” MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan wrote in a statement.
When asked why these details were only emerging now, a senior MTA official said the MTA Board had only recently taken a final vote on the tolling structure. The official said a public education campaign is in the works. The official requested anonymity to discuss the details of the tolls.
However, the configuration of the tolling zone located below 60th Street in Manhattan has been known since congestion pricing was signed into law in 2019.
But Schwartz said the nuances of congestion pricing on the Queensboro Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge were a hint of the dramatic changes in driver behavior that will come once the tolls go into effect.
“There are so many little nuances, and I guarantee you, New York drivers will very quickly identify them, complain, or if they’re really good…keep it secret,” Schwartz said.