Congestion pricing launches in NYC with $9 fee on Manhattan drivers

New York City's congestion pricing tolls turned on just after midnight on Sunday, marking the end of a decades-long push to charge motorists to drive in the busiest parts of Manhattan.

The tolls, which impose a base daytime fee of $9 on vehicles entering Manhattan south of 60th Street, mark the first program in the United States to charge drivers to enter a city's central business district and use the proceeds to finance mass transit upgrades. The charges, which drop to $2.25 during overnight hours, went live just after midnight Sunday morning. The launch was met with cheers from transit advocates who support the initative and boos from drivers who see it as an unnecessary tax.

Brandon Chamberlin, 39, who grew up in the West Village and now lives in Park Slope, drove into the zone hoping to be one of the first vehicles to pay the new toll. He joined advocates who supported the charges.

”So excited that we got it across the finish line I had to come up and drive across,” he said. "$2.25 for New York City on a Saturday night. It's the best deal there is.”

He then led a chant of “f--- Phil Murphy,” in reference to the New Jersey governor who unsuccessfully sued to halt the program. A legal hearing on the lawsuit dragged into Friday evening, when a federal judge ordered the tolls could launch on Sunday as planned.

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The cost of congestion pricing

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The MTA’s congestion pricing tolls went live on Jan. 5. Here are key aspects of the tolling scheme south of 60th Street in Manhattan:

• A $9 fee on passenger vehicles from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends
• A 75% discount for all vehicles during the overnight hours, putting the after-hours toll at $2.25.
• A $14.40 toll for smaller trucks, such as box trucks.
• A $21.60 toll for large trucks, including big rigs.
• A $4.50 toll for motorcyclists.
• Yellow and green taxis will receive an additional 75-cent surcharge.
• For-hire vehicles such as Uber and Lyft will receive an additional $$1.50 surcharge.
• Both taxis and app-based for-hire vehicles are expected to pass the cost of the tolls onto passengers.
• Drivers who do not use an E-ZPass when entering the congestion zone will pay an extra 50%.

Despite the frigid temperatures early Sunday, supporters stayed for over an hour, cheering each time an MTA bus passed by. Many bus drivers honked their horns in return.

“ For the record, it's about 27 degrees, but we're all this excited about congestion pricing,”  ;said Laura Shepard, a Queens organizer with Transportation Alternatives. “ This is like a second New Year's for many of us, because this just brings us so much joy,”

Jessame Hannus, 54, from Rego Park, Queens brought a noise maker and took a glug of champagne right out of the bottle to commemorate the long battle for congestion pricing.

“ I think it's important in this country, in this time in our world, to think about the climate,” she said. ”I just think it's a really important step.”

Michael Alvarez, 27, from Jamaica, Queens, was not excited to pay the toll as he drove by the supports of the program early Sunday

“ I hate it. I don't think us New Yorkers, we deserve this,” he said.  “Especially promising safer subways when they're not even doing anything about it. They're making us pay so much money for what? For nothing.”

Alvarez said he may drive around the zone to avoid the toll in the future.