MTA Receives American Public Transportation Association’s 2025 Innovation Award for Congestion Relief Zone Tolling

Award Recognizes Leadership and Innovation That Significantly Advances Public Transportation

View Photos from the American Public Transportation Association Awards Ceremony on Sept. 16, 2025

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced it received the American Public Transportation Association's 2025 Innovation Award for the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ) tolling program - the nation's first urban congestion pricing program. The award, presented to MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber at a ceremony in Boston, is one of the highest recognitions in the public transit industry and recognizes organizations in North America who have demonstrated "significant leadership, are outstanding role models of excellence, and whose accomplishments and innovations have greatly advanced public transportation."

"This is a win not only for the MTA team but for everyone trying to make cities work better," said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. "The positive results of congestion pricing show that state and local government can still take big swings on policy and succeed, and that should give us all hope."

Since its launch on Jan. 5, 2025, the Congestion Relief Zone tolling program has succeeded in reducing traffic, speeding up the flow of traffic, and reducing delays - not just in the Congestion Relief Zone but throughout the region - while generating revenue to fund critical transit improvement projects. The number of vehicles entering the zone is down by 12% since congestion pricing started. Every day, 87,000 fewer vehicles enter the zone, and since the program started, more than 17.6 million fewer vehicles have entered the zone compared to last year.

The prestigious and competitive APTA Innovation Award, recognizes excellence, leadership, and innovation that have had transformative impact. The award honors organizations that demonstrate innovative concepts or effective problem-solving techniques and are recognized as outstanding role models whose accomplishments and projects have a significant impact and inspire others.

This award follows a series of previous honors for Congestion Relief Zone Tolling, including the Outstanding ITS Project of the Year Award from the Intelligent Transportation Society of New York (ITS-NY), the Best Project in the Specialty Construction Category (Regional Award Level) by Engineering News-Record (ENR), and the Toll Excellence Award in Social Responsibility from the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA).

Last week, Governor Kathy Hochul announced additional data further highlighting the program's success over the last eight months.