New York City’s experiment with congestion pricing, which went into effect on the Sunday after the Christmas holiday week and on the eve of a snowstorm, has already been prematurely declared by its supporters a success.

They were never going to reach any other conclusion because there are no criteria by which they would judge it a failure. If the new tolls on drivers entering midtown or downtown Manhattan dissuade drivers from commuting onto the island, it has succeeded. If traffic patterns do not change at all and the tolls merely generate new revenue that the city can throw into the Metro Transit Authority’s insatiable maw, it has succeeded.

The only metric congestion pricing fans seem inclined to use to evaluate its efficacy is whether it contributes to an electoral backlash against the scheme’s champions. On that score, the verdict is very much out, and congestion pricing’s opponents have reason for optimism.

But the degree to which voters resent a particular policy is not a sufficient basis on which to gauge its merits. That should be obvious, but New York’s voters may need to send Albany a reminder.