The road ahead: What to expect with NYC transit in 2025

Congestion pricing, fare increases and other transit stories took New Yorkers on a wild ride last year. Here is a glance at what to expect on the roads and rails with NYC transit in 2025.

Congestion pricing: Could Trump still axe it?

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s five-month pause on congestion pricing in 2024 caused concern among supporters of the program as opponents celebrated the stay. But in mid-November, Hochul finally gave congestion pricing the green light to start on Jan. 5 — and by year’s end, two local judges denied opponents’ requests to delay congestion pricing while their lawsuits proceeded, further cementing the toll program’s start date.

However, 2025 could mark the end of the first-in-the-nation toll program to limit traffic just as it started. President-elect Donald Trump had spoken out on the campaign trail that he does not support the program, leaving New Yorkers wondering what will happen after Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.

The MTA needed federal approval to implement the local $9 base toll for cars entering parts of Manhattan, which it received in 2023. With the feds having already approved the program, it is unclear if or how Trump could undo it.

However, some local lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler and Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, still have hope that Trump could axe the deal and are actively advocating for its end before it starts.

“We thank President-elect Trump for his ongoing opposition to congestion pricing, which he has vowed to eliminate on his first day in office, and we are optimistic that President-elect Trump will intervene to protect Staten Islanders and end the program once and for all,” Fossella said in a Dec. 23 statement.

Meanwhile, congestion pricing is not only designed to relieve traffic in Manhattan south of 60th Street. According to MTA officials, the toll collection aims to fund significant infrastructure improvements for NYC’s busy and highly used public transportation system.

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber and other agency officials have touted the revival of congestion pricing as a means of increasing support for the Second Avenue Subway, upgrading accessibility at dozens of subway stations throughout the city, and installing better, more modern train signal systems and rail cars to improve service.

A more expensive commute in 2025

Despite the financial gains congestion pricing will bring to the state-run MTA, New Yorkers will still have to pay more in 2025 to travel within the city — even if they do not drive into Manhattan.

OMNY vending machines — An OMNY vending machine at Atlantic Ave-Barclays Center, one of the first to be turned on in the subway system, on Oct. 30, 2023.Marc A. Hermann / MTA

The MTA voted in December to approve an increase in subway and bus fares, which will go into effect in August 2025. Although the agency has not announced the amount of the increase, it has historically approved 4% increases in fares and tolls. If the trend continues, city straphangers will pay $3 for a bus or train ride—10 cents more than the fare in 2024.

However, public transportation is still a bargain in NYC because drivers will have to pay more for bridges and tunnels that connect the city to New Jersey. Adding insult to injury, the increases go into effect on Jan. 5, the same day congestion pricing kicks off.

Most motorists with passenger vehicles using the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey crossings during peak hours will pay $16.06 with E-ZPass ($18.31 by mail), up from $15.38 with E-ZPass. These crossings include the George Washington, Bayonne and Goethals Bridges, the Outerbridge Crossing, and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels.

New rail cars and an MTA budget in limbo

Although NYC train riders will likely pay more for their rides come summertime, they will also be treated to new subway cars this year.

The MTA will start to phase out thousands of decades-old rail cars to replace them with newer models, such as the R211, which provide better accessibility, passenger amenities such as wider seats and electrical outlets, and fewer failures, agency officials said.

With a budget of $10.9 billion, the MTA will order 1,500 subway cars, which would replace approximately 22% of the fleet.

However, the goal might not go off glitch-free. The new subway cars are part of the MTA’s 2025-2029 capital plan, which faced a roadblock at the end of 2024 when two state legislators who are part of the plan’s approval process—Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie—unexpectedly rejected the funding proposal on Christmas Eve—one day before it would have automatically went into effect.

At press time, it was unclear what the next steps would be now that the capital plan is at an impasse. However, according to a City & State article, an “intense debate among lawmakers and the governor over funding” the plan will take place.

Meanwhile, before the plan was approved, some train riders might have already used the new R211 subway cars, as the MTA had already implemented them into some train lines around the city, including the 14-mile Staten Island Railway track and the A and C lines.