New York City launched congestion pricing in January 2025. While private vehicles face the largest toll, passengers also pay $0.75 per covered Yellow Taxi trip and $1.50 per covered Uber/Lyft trip. We asked whether these mostly flat fees create uneven burdens and whether trip volume declined more in areas with greater exposure to the congestion zone.
Using 37 million Yellow Taxi trips and 202 million Uber/Lyft trips from public NYC TLC records, we developed the Zone Disruption Score to measure the fee relative to trip cost by zone and direction. We then used controlled regression and difference-in-differences models, supported by placebo and sensitivity checks, to assess fee-related trip-volume patterns. Together, the analysis provides a robust burden ranking and a carefully validated baseline for understanding how trip activity changed after the policy.