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New York City started its congestion pricing plan, the first in the United States, on Sunday.
Motorists entering Manhattan’s busiest neighborhoods must pay up to $9 in congestion pricing tolls.
Officials said the scheme is to alleviate traffic and raise funds for public transportation.
The controversial plan overcame legal challenges from New Jersey and fierce local opposition, including a federal judge’s ruling last week that it could proceed.
New Yorkers: We no longer feel safe riding the subway. Can you do something?
Democrat Party’s solution: pic.twitter.com/DpK9p7Bmao
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 5, 2025
Gothamist reports:
The tolls, which impose a base daytime fee of $9 on vehicles entering Manhattan south of 60th Street, mark the first program in the United States to charge drivers to enter a city’s central business district and use the proceeds to finance mass transit upgrades. The charges, which drop to $2.25 during overnight hours, went live just after midnight Sunday morning. The launch was met with cheers from transit advocates who support the initiative and boos from drivers who see it as an unnecessary tax.
Brandon Chamberlin, 39, who grew up in the West Village and now lives in Park Slope, drove into the zone hoping to be one of the first vehicles to pay the new toll. He joined advocates who supported the charges.
”So excited that we got it across the finish line I had to come up and drive across,” he said. “$2.25 for New York City on a Saturday night. It’s the best deal there is.”
He then led a chant of “f— Phil Murphy,” in reference to the New Jersey governor who unsuccessfully sued to halt the program. A legal hearing on the lawsuit dragged into Friday evening, when a federal judge ordered the tolls could launch on Sunday as planned.
WATCH:
Kathy Hochul’s congestion pricing went into effect. It charges drivers extra fees to drive in parts of Manhattan.
She’s trying to force people to use the subway.
The same subway which she has failed to keep safe. The same subway where a woman was lit on fire, where people get… pic.twitter.com/20gx7ogplp
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 5, 2025
The FDNY union slammed the congestion pricing plan, calling it a “sad day for public safety for the New York City Fire Department.”
WATCH:
FDNY union slams newly implemented congestion tolls pic.twitter.com/B7LgDbUO8v
— New York Post (@nypost) January 5, 2025
Per NBC News:
Under the pricing plan, most cars entering Manhattan’s central business district — which stretches from 60th Street all the way down to the southern tip of the Financial District — must pay a peak fee of $9 from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.
Off-peak would be a 75% discount — $2.25.
Small trucks and noncommuter buses will pay $14.40 to enter Manhattan at peak times, while larger trucks and tourist buses will pay a $21.60 fee.
Motorists will only be charged once a day, and exemptions include certain emergency and government vehicles, as well as low-income drivers and those who have medical conditions that prevent them from using mass transit. School and commuter buses are also exempt.
The MTA has predicted there would be 10% fewer cars and trucks after the toll begins. MTA executives have also promised that billions of dollars raised by congestion pricing will pay to modernize the system all across the region.
The program was reinstated after Gov. Kathy Hochul pushed to revive it after two years of delays and revisions amid complaints from commuters and businesses who don’t think the fare is fair.
But the real race was to get the pricing approved before Trump takes office in January.
Trump, a native New Yorker, has vowed to scrap the plan when he returns to the White House, and Republicans have already urged him to intervene.