New York's congestion charge is live, but it started on a Sunday

Yes New York is different from the rest of the United States, and Lower Manhattan is different from the rest of New York.  Every statistic around housing density, car use, mode share and supply of public transport demonstrates that.  However, today New York is the first US city to implement any form of urban road pricing/congestion charging that applies to existing roads which varies by time of day.

An initial report is of no drama at all, it being a Sunday as the scheme launch date. The New York Times has been live blogging about it, and the only point of note is apparently slightly less traffic. Winnie Hu from New York Times reported:

Traffic already appeared to be lighter on Sunday morning in the congestion zone. The average travel speed was 15.1 miles per hour at 8 a.m., or about 3 percent faster than the 14.6 miles per hour recorded at the same time on the first Sunday in January 2024, according to real-time data from INRIX, a transportation analytics firm.

That's with a US$9 a day charge from 0900-2100 in weekends. It is the same charge weekdays from 0500-2100, with a US$2.25 charge at all other times (this is for cars). The price schedule is not that complex, with variations based on vehicle size (road space occupancy), type of account and timing. The full schedule is here.

The "New York Central Business District Tolling Program" as it is officially called, is primarily about raising a lot of money for public transport, especially for the subway.  So it is a revenue scheme first and foremost, but which also has some clear objectives around improving both road network performance and environmental outcomes. 

With the lower rates approved by the Governor just over a month ago, it is expected to raise US$500m per annum in the first three years, with an increase after that to take it to around US$700m. If it were not for that level of revenue, it would not have the political support it needed.

From a transport (and environmental) policy point of view it has other useful objectives, it should reduce traffic, improve speeds and reduce emissions.

The big test will be tomorrow of course.