Summary
New York City has become the first U.S. city to implement a congestion charge, with car drivers paying up to $9 daily to enter areas south of Central Park.
The scheme aims to reduce traffic and fund public transport but has faced opposition, including from Donald Trump, who has vowed to overturn it.
Fees vary by vehicle type, with trucks and buses paying higher rates.
Despite legal challenges, the initiative moves forward as New York remains the world’s most congested urban area, with peak traffic speeds averaging just 11 mph.
You do not have the choice to pay it. Anyone driving through for the first time will have no idea what this is or how to avoid it.
Same with no-stop toll roads. The first time I encountered one, I could not refuse to pay. I could not refuse to go through, and I could not turn around. I was also poor.
I am all for reducing car and truck traffic, but we have to acknowledge that this way steals money from some of the most vulnerable who don’t get to choose.
Was that Florida? It sounds like something Florida would do.
In any case, that sounds like a stretch, since this congestion toll has garnered nationwide media coverage, and NYC has posted plenty of advance notice in the form of road signs (pictures of which have accompanied many of those news reports). Google Maps warned me about the congestion toll when I pulled up my driving route to Manhattan. But even if one were to just hit the road without any foreknowledge of the route, the existence of toll roads is well-known, so the possibility of encountering one is part of the decision to drive.