It's the Brian Larry Show on WNYC. Happy Friday, everybody.

And on day six of the congestion pricing told to drive into Manhattan below 60th Street.

The chair and CEO of the MTA, Jan O'Leber, is here to answer my questions,

and yours will open the phones in just a minute, hold off for just a second.

Before we bring Janelle Lieber on, I'll set this up with the lead story from the business magazine Cranes this morning.

It says bumper-to-bumper gridlock on Manhattan streets has noticeably evaporated this week

following the launch of congestion pricing.

So where is everybody?

Ridership data indicates that at least some of those motorists have migrated to mass transit

with 500,000 more people traveling on the city's subway buses and commuter rail on Tuesday compared to the same day last year.

500,000 more.

Far and away, the biggest ridership jump Tuesday was on the city's subway system, this says, on which more than 3.7 million people

traveled, an increase of over 400,000 travelers for the equivalent day in 2024, according

to MTA ridership data reviewed by cranes. So in other words, of the 500,000 more in mass

transit generally, 400,000 were on the subways.

It then goes on to say 80,000 more passengers boarded buses on Tuesday, bringing the day's bus ridership to north of 1.2 million.

And the commuter rails, Metro North and the Long Island Railroad, each saw increases

of about 30,000 riders. It's less clear what's unfolding on mass transit that originates from

New Jersey, according to Crane's NJ Transit spokesman, Keella Malumba, said the agency has, quote,

not seen, not seen a notable ridership

increase this week, but declined to share ridership metrics specifically. But travel times by car

on the Hudson River crossings have sped up, indicating fewer cars, according to real-time

...