By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New York Metropolis drivers on Monday needed to pay $9 to enter Manhattan beneath the primary such congestion payment within the U.S., which seeks to lift billions for mass transit and cut back visitors jams.
The payment went into impact on Sunday after New Jersey failed on Friday to persuade a decide to halt it pending an attraction.
Town rushed to implement the cost earlier than President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Trump, who has a Manhattan residence, opposes the payment and mentioned he would search to dam it.
New York is imposing the $9 cost on passenger automobiles within the daytime in Manhattan south of sixtieth Road. Vehicles and buses can pay as much as $21.60. The payment is diminished by 75% at night time.
Charged by way of digital license plate readers, personal vehicles can pay as soon as a day no matter what number of journeys they make. Taxis can pay 75 cents per journey and ride-share automobiles reserved by apps like Uber (NYSE:) and Lyft (NASDAQ:) can pay $1.50 per journey.
Whereas New York is the primary U.S. metropolis to impose such a toll, London applied one in 2003, and the payment is now 15 kilos ($19).
Sarah Kaufman, director of New York College’s Rudin Middle for Transportation, mentioned Monday that the expertise of different world cities reveals that the cost initially could be very unpopular.
Then residents “started to understand the discount in visitors and the elevated transit providers. So ideally, that is what’s going to occur right here in New York,” she mentioned.
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority mentioned this system will lead to 80,000 fewer vehicles a day, about an 11% discount, in what it referred to as essentially the most congested district in the US.
Greater than 700,000 automobiles enter the Manhattan central enterprise district each day, slowing visitors to round 7 mph (11 kph) on common. That’s 23% slower than in 2010.
Town estimates the congestion cost will usher in $500 million in its first yr. New York Governor Kathy Hochul mentioned the cash would underpin $15 billion in debt financing for funding in subways, buses and different mass transit enhancements.
