Posted BY: | NwoReport
New York City may start charging drivers traveling below Midtown Manhattan extra fees for congestion as early as April 2024.
After years of heated debate, the NYC congestion pricing plan is expected to get final approval from the federal government next month.
Urban commuter fees have been a pet project for environmentalists, urban planners and transit advocates nationwide for years.
Critics of the plan say it penalizes drivers who already pay high tolls to get into Manhattan and those who live in the tolling zone as an additional drain on their budgets.
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Former NYC mayor, Michael Bloomberg, attempted to push such a plan almost two decades ago but failed after tough opposition.
New York State authorities expect it will lower traffic and help the MTA improve its transit system while raising $1 billion yearly in fees.
All vehicles that enter or remain in Manhattan’s Central Business District (CBD) will be tolled.
The CBD Tolling Program is the first of its kind in the United States and will charge E-ZPass holders driving south of 60th Street as much as $23 with higher rates for vehicles without E-ZPass.
Singapore has charged drivers since 1975, along with Stockholm in 2007 and in parts of Milan in 2012, while fees have been in effect in central London since 2003, according to Bloomberg.
