New York City’s controversial congestion toll came into effect Sunday at midnight, taxing Midtown Manhattan drivers as much as $9 to make their way around the busiest part of the city.
The congestion pricing system will charge drivers entering Manhattan below 60th street $9 during the peak hours of 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m on weekends, according to New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority. The toll price is being phased in gradually with $3 increases planned for 2028 and 2031 as drivers adjust to the program.
Taxi cabs and other ride share drivers will pay a lower amount, $0.75 per trip, and high-volume for-hire vehicles will be charged $1.50 per ride. Small trucks and buses will be charged $14.40 during the peak hours and $3.60 overnight, and tour buses will have to pay a $21.60 congestion toll throughout the peak period and $5.40 overnight.
The MTA is offering discounts for low-income and disabled drivers, and certain types of cars such as emergency vehicles, government-owned vehicles, and vehicles used to transport the disabled.
New York governor Kathy Hochul (D) fought strongly for the congestion plan against pushback from environmental groups and other regional Democrats, including New Jersey governor Phil Murphy (D), who voiced opposition to the steep tax.
Scores of New Jersey residents commute into the Big Apple daily for work and leisure, many of whom drive through the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels inside the congestion pricing area.
A federal appeals court quashed Friday the Garden State’s last-ditch attempt to block the long-delayed congestion toll, as it wages a legal challenge against the congestion-pricing plan. The court is allowing New Jersey to resume arguments for its lawsuit after the congestion pricing scheme begins.
“This morning, congestion pricing went live, a first-of-its-kind program in the nation to alleviate traffic, bringing safer streets, improved transit, faster emergency response times, & cleaner air to NYC,” said Representative Jerry Nadler (D., N.Y.), a prominent supporter of congestion pricing.
The MTA projects that the congestion tax will raise $15 billion of revenue for various projects while lowering traffic by 80,000 vehicles daily, reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality. Opponents of the plan expect the congestion tax to hurt ordinary residents’ pocketbooks by thousands of dollars annually, penalizing them simply for driving to work.
“Imagine being such an asshole as to celebrate screwing New Yorkers out of their hard earned money just for the privilege to drive to work. We will end this scam!” Representative Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.) said on X, reacting to a video of the congestion signs being unveiled.
Hochul initially planned on rolling out the congestion tax in June at a peak price of $15 but paused the program in June before deciding to re-launch it right before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Hochul’s congestion pricing rollout also comes after New York voters decided on some of the most contentious congressional races nationwide, as Democrats flipped multiple Republican-held seats in blue-leaning districts.
Trump, whose vast real estate portfolio includes properties in Midtown Manhattan, has voiced opposition to the congestion toll and believes it will drive business out of the city.
“Not only is this a massive tax to people coming in, it is extremely inconvenient from both driving and personal bookkeeping standards. It will be virtually impossible for New York City to come back as long as the congestion tax is in effect,” Trump told the New York Post in November.
It remains to be seen whether the incoming Trump administration will join legal efforts to shut down the congestion toll.