New York’s Congestion Pricing Takes a Toll on Truckers
Operators say the plan will raise already-high delivery costs for trucking companies and New York City businesses
By Paul Berger
Jan. 6, 2025 12:08 pm ET
One of the most expensive cities in the U.S. for freight deliveries just got even more costly. Starting this week in New York City, heavy-duty trucks must pay $21.60 each time they enter Manhattan south of 60th Street between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays and between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends. The fee is scheduled to rise to $28.80 in 2028 and $36.00 in 2031.
The fees are part of the congestion pricing plan New York rolled out this week for all vehicles entering Manhattan’s main business district. The New York state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the congestion fee will reduce traffic while raising funds for mass transit improvements.
The first in the nation tolling program is decades in the making and is being watched by other cities, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, that have explored their own versions of business-district tolls.
The charges add to the high costs for truckers in the New York metropolitan region, including tolls of $100 or more to cross some bridges, as well as some of the highest in the nation for insurance and labor. Stiff penalties for a long menu of infractions, including $115 tickets for double parking in neighborhoods with limited curb space and fines of $350 for idling for more than three minutes, add to the financial toll.
“For many this is going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” said Zach Miller, vice president of government affairs at the Trucking Association of New York, which represents hundreds of carriers from independent owner-operators to large fleets.
Miller said trucking companies will absorb some of the extra costs from the tolls, but they will have to pass on a portion of the fees to customers such as restaurants and bars that already operate on thin margins. “I have heard a lot of concern about losing customers because of increased rates,” he said.
Freight companies and their customers say the charges will pile on costs for cargo that can’t reach its destination any other way.
“A restaurant’s fish order is not taking the subway from the Bronx to Midtown Manhattan,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of New York City Hospitality Alliance, which represents restaurants, bars and nightclubs. “That truck has to come into the zone and our suppliers have told us this is going to increase their cost of doing business.“
About 120,000 trucks and commercial vehicles enter the city each day, according to the city transportation department.
John Luciani, an executive at A. Duie Pyle, a West Chester, Pa.-based trucking company focused on the Northeast that consolidates shipments from multiple customers in a single trailer, says New York City is already the most difficult and expensive city it operates in.
Luciani said that because of traffic, A. Duie Pyle’s drivers there average eight deliveries and pickups a day, compared with an average of 23 daily deliveries and pickups across the wider region. He said average toll costs per delivery are almost three times higher in the city than regionwide. “The cost of doing business in NYC is significant,” he said.
City and state transportation officials say truckers can reduce costs by delivering overnight. The congestion toll for heavy-duty trucks drops to $5.40 during offpeak hours.
Carriers say they already have plenty of incentives to deliver overnight. Traffic is lighter and curb space is available. But they say many customers can’t accept overnight deliveries because they don’t have overnight staff or a secure location for unattended deliveries.
“It’s just another tax and another cost of doing business in the Big Apple,” Luciani said.
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