New York City launched a new congestion toll for motorists entering Manhattan, marking the first such toll to be launched in the United States.
The tax, $9 for most motorists entering congestion zones during peak hours, is modeled after similar levies in major European cities. The taxes themselves will go toward repairing New York City’s subway system, and New York officials hope the program will reduce rush hour traffic for commuters by funneling some motorists toward public transportation options.
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The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is overseeing the program, implemented the new tolls on Sunday morning for a test run ahead of Monday morning rush hour. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) delayed the program’s originally scheduled launch this past summer, citing economic concerns for New Yorkers, though critics said she did it due to political pressure ahead of the November election.
A number of lawmakers in New Jersey had sought to block the program’s launch.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) claimed Saturday that the toll is a blatant attempt to “fund the MTA on the backs of New Jersey commuters.”
“This new tax will raise costs for New Jerseyans, while also worsening traffic and increasing pollution in New Jersey as commuters go out of their way to seek more affordable routes into New York,” she said.
“I refuse to sit back as New York uses New Jersey’s workforce as a meal ticket for the MTA,” Sherrill continued. “I will continue to fight to move businesses to the Garden State, to expand office sharing sites, and to make it easier for New Jerseyans to work remotely.”
President-elect Donald Trump vowed back in the spring of 2024 to rescind federal approval for the toll should he win a second term in the White House.
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“TERMINATE Congestion Pricing in my FIRST WEEK back in Office,” he wrote in a May post on Truth Social.
“I can’t believe that New York City is instituting Congestion pricing, where everyone hast to pay a fortune for the ‘privilege’ of coming into the City, which is in desperate trouble without it. It is a big incentive not to come,” he wrote in a separate post. “It’s been a failure everywhere it has been tried, and would only work if a place were HOT, HOT, HOT, which New York City is not right now.”