On January 5th, the congestion pricing system that is expected to be implemented will apply to all vehicles entering the area south of 60th Street in Manhattan, including taxis and rideshare vehicles. One of the rideshare companies, Lyft, announced on Thursday (January 2nd) that they will cover the $1.50 congestion fee per trip for all passengers in January this year.
In the initial phase of the congestion pricing implementation from 2025 to 2027 as per MTA regulations, traditional yellow and green taxis in New York City will be charged $0.75 per trip for congestion fees, while high-volume for-hire services will be charged $1.50 per trip. (For detailed toll rates, visit: https://new.mta.info/crztolls)
In a statement released on January 2nd, Lyft stated that rideshare customers, also known as shared ride customers, have been paying the $2.75 congestion fee to the MTA since 2019.
“We believe passengers should not be double-taxed,” Lyft said in the statement. “We have been actively lobbying to have the additional $1.50 congestion fee waived for our customers.”
Despite the efforts of rideshare companies, they will still have to pay the congestion fee starting from January 5th. Lyft claims that they will reimburse this $1.50 charge to company passengers in the form of points, but only for the month of January. These points can be used for Lyft and Citi Bike ride services.
“Our goal is not to undermine the city’s efforts to reduce congestion, providing funding for public transportation is a good thing,” Lyft stated. “But we also need to consider the welfare of our passengers. We understand that living and traveling in New York City is becoming increasingly expensive, so we believe this small step will help people adjust to this new expense – in fact, we have always been working to reduce the total cost of rides.”
A Chinese Uber driver, Master Zhao, told this publication that the $1.50 per trip fee is not a problem for them.
“Anyway, it needs to be passed on to passengers, and $1.50 is not much for passengers,” he said. “There is not much discussion among drivers about the congestion fee.”
Master Zhao pointed out that the biggest issue for Uber drivers now is the “deactivation” and “limitation” of their accounts (shutting down drivers’ apps and preventing them from logging in), as this directly deprives drivers of opportunities to earn money.
As an Uber driver, Master Zhao is no longer facing account deactivations, but he mentioned that the rideshare business in New York City is not doing well now. The reason is that the city allowed more than 10,000 Tesla electric vehicles into the market last year, leading to an imbalance between supply and demand with too many vehicles.