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New York on Sunday became the first US city to launch a congestion charging zone, after a controversial scheme aimed at easing traffic and raising billions of dollars for local transit was plagued by years of delays and legal challenges.
Drivers entering some of Manhattan’s busiest neighborhoods during rush hour will face a $9 congestion charge. The New York City Transportation Authority said early Sunday that the congestion relief zone, which stretches from the bottom of Central Park to the southern tip of Manhattan, is “fully operational.”
A plan put on hold by the governor of New York Kathy Hochul last June before being revived at a lower price than the original $15 fee, it is expected to reduce the number of vehicles entering the zone each day by about 10 percent. It will also help raise $15 billion for the MTA to invest in public transit projects.
At an event to mark the launch of the new scheme hours before its launch, MTA chairman Janno Lieber said: “We’ve been working on this for five years, but you stand in the city center for five minutes and you know we have to deal with the traffic problem. Now we are showing the world that in New York we are doing something about our challenges.”
Hochul initially put the plan on hold over fears that the increase in driver fees could hinder some Democratic candidates in November’s election races, as New Yorkers grappled with a jump in the cost of living.
New Jersey’s latest attempt to block the scheme in federal courts, seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages to compensate for environmental damage caused by increased traffic on the other side of the Hudson River, has failed. But the judge said the Federal Highway Administration would have to give an opinion on the scheme.
However, the scheme still faces an uncertain future. Republicans are pushing President-elect Donald Trump to revoke federal approval for the program, while some Republican lawmakers have called for new legislation to block the tolls.
Under New York’s scheme, the off-peak fee is reduced to $2.25 for drivers traveling at night between 9pm and 5am on weekdays and 9pm and 9am on weekends. Small trucks will pay $14.40 to enter Manhattan during peak hours, while larger vehicles will pay $21.60.
Last year, New York was named the world’s most congested city by traffic monitoring platform Inrix, leading to the average driver stuck in traffic for an average of 101 hours a year and a $9.1 billion hit to the local economy.
