Is Congestion Pricing Charged on the FDR Drive?

No, not if you only drive through. A car that stays on the FDR Drive, the West Side Highway (West Street / Route 9A) or the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel connections to West Street, entering at one point and leaving at another, is not charged the congestion toll (MTA FAQ). But parking on or just off these roads is charged, and so is any connection that uses Manhattan streets.

For TLC trips the question is different: does the trip go to, from, within or through the zone? A trip that only uses the excluded highways, with pickup and drop-off outside the zone, is not a zone trip under the definitions.

The excluded roadways

State law draws the zone as Manhattan "south of and inclusive of sixtieth street," but says it "shall not include the FDR Drive, and New York state route 9A otherwise known as the 'West Side highway' including the Battery Park underpass and any surface roadway portion of the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel connecting to West St." (VTL §1704).

How the cameras tell the difference: there are detection points all along the excluded roads. A vehicle seen at several of them in a row, and then seen leaving the zone "all in a reasonable period of time," is not charged. "The system will charge a toll only if a vehicle is no longer detected on the excluded roadways" (MTA FAQ).

Source: MTA FAQ. The full list of ramps and a map are in Congestion Relief Zone boundaries.

Parking on or just off the highway

This catches people. The MTA's answer is direct: "Yes, parking on or just off these roadways incurs a toll. If your vehicle is detected entering an excluded roadway, but is no longer seen by other detection points along the roadway, then you will be charged a toll." Stopping for a meal break or a nap off the FDR in your personal car can turn a free drive into a $9.00 peak toll with E-ZPass ($2.25 overnight), as of October 12, 2026.

TLC per-trip trips: what "through" means

TLC trips don't pay the vehicle toll. They pay a per-trip charge, paid by the passenger: $0.75 for taxi, green cab and regular FHV trips and $1.50 for Uber/Lyft trips, on each trip "to, from, within, or through" the zone (TLC Industry Notice #24-10).

The MTA's plan agreement with FHV bases defines a zone trip as one "to, from, within, or through the Central Business District" and takes the meaning of that district from the state Vehicle and Traffic Law (plan agreement). The state law quoted above leaves the excluded highways out of the district. Its data form asks whether a trip had "a route segment that passed within the CBD Congestion Pricing Zone." Put together:

• Pickup or drop-off below 60th Street (even just off the FDR, such as South Street): a zone trip. The passenger pays.
• Pickup and drop-off outside, route on local streets below 60th (for example Brooklyn to the Upper West Side through Lower Manhattan): a zone trip. The agreement uses a similar example.
• Pickup and drop-off outside, route only on the FDR or West Side Highway: not a zone trip under the definitions.

What to do next

1. Personal car: stay on the highway to the exit you need, and don't park on or next to it below 60th Street if you want to avoid the toll.
2. Check a route with the congestion fee calculator.
3. Driving in empty on the FDR in a TLC car: see do I pay driving in empty?
4. Charged by mistake (personal car): dispute in writing within 180 days to E-ZPass Customer Account Correspondence, PO Box 15187, Albany, NY 12212-5187 (MTA FAQ).

More: what counts as one charge per day in charged twice in one day?, the term itself in excluded roadways, and the Lincoln Tunnel crossing. Overview: congestion pricing for TLC drivers. More in the tolls hub.