Driving into Manhattan? That’ll cost you, as new congestion toll starts Sunday

President-elect Donald Trump, a Republican, has vowed to kill the program when he takes office, but it’s unclear if he will follow through. The plan had stalled during his first term while it waited on a federal environmental review.

In November, Trump, whose namesake Trump Tower is in the toll zone, said congestion pricing “will put New York City at a disadvantage over competing cities and states, and businesses will flee.”

“Not only is this a massive tax to people coming in, it is extremely inconvenient from both driving and personal booking keeping standards,” he said in a statement. “It will be virtually impossible for New York City to come back as long as the congestion tax is in effect.”

Other big cities around the world, including London and Stockholm, have similar congestion pricing schemes, but it is the first in the U.S.

The toll was supposed to go into effect last year with a $15 charge, but Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul abruptly paused the program before the 2024 election, when congressional races in suburban areas around the city — the epicenter of opposition to the program — were considered to be vital to her party’s effort to retake control of Congress.

Not long after the election, Hochul rebooted the plan but at the lower $9 toll. She denies politics were at play and said she thought the original $15 charge was too much, though she had been a vocal supporter of the program before halting it.

Congestion pricing also survived several lawsuits seeking to block the program, including a last-ditch effort from the state of New Jersey to have a judge put up a temporary roadblock against it. A spokesperson for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Natalie Hamilton, said in an email Saturday, that they would” continue fighting against this unfair and unpopular scheme.”