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New York on Sunday became the first US city to launch a congestion charge zone, after the controversial scheme aimed at easing traffic and raising billions of dollars for local transit was beset by years of delays and legal challenges.
Motorists entering some of Manhattan’s busiest neighbourhoods during peak hours will face a $9 congestion charge fee. New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority said early on Sunday that the congestion relief zone, which stretches from the bottom of Central Park to the southern tip of Manhattan, was “fully operational”.
The scheme, which was paused by New York governor Kathy Hochul in June last year before being revived at a lower price than the original fee of $15, is expected to cut the number of vehicles entering the zone each day by around 10 per cent. It will also help to raise $15bn for the MTA to put towards public transit projects.
At an event to mark the start of the new scheme hours before its launch, MTA chair Janno Lieber said: “We’ve been working on this for five years but you stand in midtown for five minutes and you know we’ve got to deal with the traffic problem. Now, we’re showing the world that in New York, we do something about our challenges.”
Hochul initially paused the scheme for fear that the increase in charges on motorists could hobble some Democratic candidates in ballot races in November as New Yorkers have contended with a jump in the cost of living.
A last-ditch attempt by New Jersey to block the scheme in federal courts, seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages to compensate for environmental harm because of increased traffic on the other side of the Hudson River, fell apart. But the judge said the Federal Highway Administration would need to opine on the scheme.
However, the scheme still faces an uncertain future. Republicans have been pushing President-elect Donald Trump to revoke federal approval for the programme, while some GOP lawmakers have called for new laws to block congestion tolls.
Under New York’s scheme, the off-peak fee is reduced to $2.25 for motorists travelling overnight 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 a $21.60 fee.
Last year, New York was named as the most congested city globally by traffic monitoring platform Inrix, leading to the average motorist being stuck in traffic for an average of 101 hours a year and a $9.1bn blow to the local economy.
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