Is Congestion Pricing Working? The MTA’s Data Team Has Answers
▼ Summary
– The MTA’s data and analytics team was formed in 2022 following a state law requiring public data release and prepared for the 2025 launch of congestion pricing.
– The team immediately began publishing granular data, including vehicle entries in 10-minute increments, allowing public assessment of the program’s traffic impact.
– The MTA now publishes over 180 datasets, centralizing previously scattered information and plans to release 30 more soon, covering areas like subway delays and bus speeds.
– A new culture of intra-agency data sharing and in-house technical tools enabled this transparency, with no consulting hours used, building public-sector expertise.
– This open-data approach marks a significant shift for the MTA, which previously pursued legal action against developers scraping its data before 2009.
For the data and analytics team at the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority, January 5, 2025, felt like a moment of destiny. After years of preparation, the city’s congestion pricing program officially launched, marking a turning point in how traffic and transit data would be shared with the public. The team had been building toward this day since state lawmakers mandated the release of accessible public data back in 2021, and the MTA’s leadership formally established the unit the following January.
When the congestion tolls finally went live, the shift was immediately visible in the agency’s records. Andy Kuziemko, deputy chief of the data and analytics team, recalls the moment clearly: “The day it turned on, one field changed from ‘no revenue collection’ to ‘revenue.’” Within days, the team began publishing detailed information in ten-minute increments, showing how many vehicles entered Manhattan’s busiest zones. This data, available for anyone to view or download, allows New Yorkers to see for themselves whether the program is actually reducing street-level congestion.
The MTA’s straightforward online dashboards may not be flashy, but they represent a major victory for open-data advocates. Transparency and public access to well-maintained datasets are seen as essential for holding government agencies accountable and improving how they operate. Since its formation in 2022, the data team has expanded to 26 full-time staff members dedicated to centralizing information that was once scattered across the massive transit network.
And massive it is, the MTA is the largest public transportation system in the United States, serving nearly 6 million daily riders across subways, buses, railroads, bridges, and tunnels. Keeping track of all those numbers is no small task. The agency now publishes more than 180 datasets, with recent additions including employee productivity metrics, subway delay incident reports, and bus speeds on Manhattan’s most congested corridors. According to Kuziemko, another 30 datasets are slated for public release in the near future.
This shift didn’t happen by accident. Leadership within the MTA has actively encouraged a new culture of data sharing, urging departments to contribute information to a centralized “data lake.” From there, datasets are refined, stripped of any personally identifiable information, and prepared for public release. The agency has also invested in building its own technical capabilities, developing in-house software and tools without relying on outside consultants, a point of pride for the team.
Sarah Kaufman, director of the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation and former head of the MTA’s open-data initiative, notes that this level of granular data sharing is unusual for a government body. In fact, it marks a dramatic reversal from the agency’s earlier stance. Before 2009, the MTA was known for taking legal action against developers who scraped its timetable and route data to create rider-friendly applications. Today, the philosophy couldn’t be more different.
(Source: Wired)
