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In short: Inside the congestion zone, taxis and FHVs moved a little faster after tolling started on January 5, 2025. The MTA's monthly data puts the Central Business District (CBD, Manhattan at or below 60th Street) at 9.01 mph for January–August 2025, against 8.73 mph in the same months of 2024: about 3.1% faster. Outside the zone, speeds did not rise.
Speeds are still slow: about 9 miles an hour on average. The newest month in the dataset is August 2025 (fetched October 12, 2026), so this page can't show 2026 yet.
The numbers at a glance
Our averages are simple means of the monthly values in the MTA dataset 6p29-6xqn. The dataset describes itself as average taxi and for-hire vehicle speeds "as collected by the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission," split into three areas: CBD, CBD Adjacent and Greater NYC.
Speeds month by month since 2019
Three things stand out. Speeds jumped in spring 2020, when the streets emptied during COVID-19. They then slid back for four years: CBD speed fell every year from 2021 to 2024. And the CBD line ticks up in 2025 while the other two lines stay flat.
Seasonality: why January always looks good
In every full year except 2020 (the COVID year), the CBD is fastest in January, and the fall and December months are among the slowest. That pattern was there before the toll:
- December 2023 → January 2024: 8.01 → 9.31 mph (no toll yet)
- December 2024 → January 2025: 7.83 → 9.66 mph (toll starts January 5)
So "speeds jumped 23% in the first month" is the wrong reading. The fair test is the same month one year apart.
One more check: 2025 is faster than 2024 but only back to about the 2023 level (9.05 mph for January–August 2023). Part of the gain is a recovery from an unusually slow 2024.
Units check
The dataset's column zonal_speed is "the average speed of traffic in the zone in miles per hour (mph)," one value per zone per month. It is an average over the whole month and every hour of the day. It does not tell you rush-hour speeds, a single street, or how fast your own trips were.
Speeds by zone by year
Before and after January 5, 2025
The MTA's own one-year review uses a different source (GPS probe data for all vehicles, not only taxis) and found that speeds inside the zone and on the excluded highways rose 4.6% in peak toll hours from January to October 2025, compared with 2024 (MTA evaluation, January 2026). Our 3.1% for taxis and FHVs points the same way and is a similar size.
The MTA report also says speed depends on two things: how many vehicles are on the road, and how much room they have (construction, crashes, double parking, street closures). The toll can only change the first. A before/after number can't separate the two.
What speed means for your pay
Speed changes pay in different ways for app drivers and taxi drivers. The rates below are from TLC as of October 12, 2026.
- Uber/Lyft minimum pay is $1.283 per mile plus $0.681 per minute with a passenger (non-WAV). In one hour with a passenger at speed v, the formula gives 60 × $0.681 + v × $1.283. Each extra 1 mph adds $1.283 per passenger-hour. Going from 8.73 to 9.01 mph adds about 36 cents an hour at the minimum. Faster trips are also shorter, so pay per trip goes down a little. See minimum pay for FHV drivers.
- Taxi meter: 70 cents per 1/5 mile above 12 mph, or per 60 seconds in slow traffic or when stopped. With averages around 9 mph, much of a Manhattan trip is charged by time. A faster trip earns about the same per minute but ends sooner.
This is arithmetic on the published rates, not a measure of what drivers earned. An average speed hides the stop-and-go that decides how a meter or an app actually counts a trip.
What the data can't tell you
- Why speeds changed. Weather, construction, events and the number of cars all matter. The data has no cause column.
- Hour or street detail. One number per area per month only.
- Anything after August 2025. The dataset was last updated September 25, 2026, but its rows end in August 2025.
- Your earnings. For trips and money in the zone, see congestion zone trip statistics and did congestion pricing reduce Uber trips?. For total driving in the zone, see vehicle miles in the congestion zone. For entries, see taxi and FHV entries.
The toll rises in 2028 and 2031 (what changes then). The full picture of both congestion charges is in congestion pricing for TLC drivers. More on driving in Manhattan and in the tolls hub.
Frequently asked questions
Did taxis and Ubers get faster in Manhattan after congestion pricing?
A little, inside the zone. In the MTA's taxi and FHV speed data, the Central Business District (Manhattan at or below 60th Street) averaged 9.01 mph in January–August 2025, against 8.73 mph in the same months of 2024: about 3.1% faster. Seven of those eight months were faster than a year earlier.
Did speeds go up outside the zone too?
No. The area next to the zone averaged 12.46 mph (1.1% slower than Jan–Aug 2024) and the rest of the city 16.52 mph (0.9% slower). The gain shows up only inside the tolled area.
Why does January 2025 look like a big jump?
Because January is fast every year. CBD speed went from 7.83 mph in December 2024 to 9.66 mph in January 2025, but it also went from 8.01 to 9.31 mph between December 2023 and January 2024, before any toll. Compare the same month a year apart instead.
Is the speed in miles per hour?
Yes. The dataset defines zonal_speed as the average speed of traffic in the zone in miles per hour (mph), by month.
Does a faster trip mean more money for me?
Not by itself. Under the Uber/Lyft minimum pay formula, each extra mile per hour adds $1.283 per hour of passenger time, so a 0.28 mph gain is worth about 36 cents an hour at the minimum. A taxi meter below 12 mph charges by time, so faster trips mostly mean shorter trips.
Sources
Last reviewed against the official sources on .
- NY Open Data: MTA Central Business District Taxi and For-Hire Vehicle Speeds: Beginning October 2019 (6p29-6xqn) data.ny.gov
- MTA: Congestion Relief Zone Tolling First Evaluation Report (January 2026) mta.info
- NYC TLC: Driver Pay Rates nyc.gov
- NYC TLC: Taxi Fare nyc.gov
- MTA: About the Congestion Relief Zone toll mta.info
Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll check it against the official source.
TLC Help is not a law firm and is not affiliated with the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission or OATH. Explanations on this site are general information, not legal advice. Legal representation is provided by independent attorneys and OATH-registered representatives in our network.