NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Traffic is back.
The Port Authority is making official what many drivers have noticed: traffic is increasing at the Hudson River crossings.
Bridge and tunnel traffic is back to within 8% of pre-pandemic levels.
"The automobile has given people kind of a safety, it's a feeling of 'I'm by myself and I am not gonna catch anything from anyone because no one is sitting next to me,'" said Mitchell Moss who teaches urban planning at New York University.
Working from home has also changed the dynamic.
"The work habit of the suburban commuter is not gonna be coming in five days the way it use to be, some will, some won't," said Moss, who believes as vaccinations increase so will commuter confidence.
Truck traffic increased 9.7 percent in March 2021 compared to March 2019.
The PATH train saw its highest ridership levels in a year in the month of March, however, overall ridership is still down by 73%.
In March 2021, the airports handled an estimated total of 4.2 million passengers, down about 64% compared to March 2019.
The Port Authority continues to project a total of $2.7 billion in lost revenue from the beginning of the pandemic through the end of 2021, as well as $3 billion revenue loss covering the 24-month period from March 2020 through March 2022.
The news comes a day after the MTA reported subway riders made 2.1 million trips last Friday, the highest ridership number since the start of the pandemic.
Weekday ridership has been hovering around 2 million since April 9, but Friday was the first day the number exceeded 2 million.
The city's buses reported 1.1 million trips that day.