One of the promises made about New York City's congestion pricing program was that charging drivers to enter Manhattan would help emergency vehicles move faster and ultimately save lives. According to an investigation by Eyewitness News, the Seven on Your Side team set out to test whether that promise has actually held up, and the answer turned out to be more complicated than the original pitch suggested.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority pointed to encouraging signs. The agency said emergency response times that had been increasing are now leveling off since congestion pricing was implemented, arguing that with traffic down and vehicle speeds up, police officers, firefighters and EMTs have gained the ability to save lives at an accelerated pace.
The picture looks different when it comes to medical emergencies. According to the investigation, EMS response times for medical calls actually increased by 57 seconds in the business district covered by the toll, and rose in every other part of the city as well, cutting against the idea that the program has delivered faster help to people in crisis.
The Fire Department, which runs the city's ambulances, attributes those slower times to a separate problem rather than to traffic. Officials point to low EMS staffing combined with a steady increase in calls for help, an issue Eyewitness News said it has been covering for years and discussed exclusively with the commissioner just a few weeks ago.
The strain on the workforce is significant. The commissioner described the reality of the call volume as overwhelming for such a small force in a big city, while the union representing the workers said they are losing two EMS workers a day, a rate of attrition that leaves the remaining staff stretched ever thinner as demand keeps climbing.
Pay sits at the center of the problem. The minimum salary for an EMT is currently 39,000 dollars a year, just above minimum wage, and the commissioner does not expect the staffing situation to improve much until those workers receive a pay increase, tying the question of response times directly to wages.
For now, the investigation concluded that charging drivers to enter the city has not changed how long it takes emergency crews to reach those who need them. The FDNY said the toll has not affected its response times, and Eyewitness News said it would keep tracking the data over time to see whether a clearer trend eventually emerges.