New York City (NYC) has become the first city in the States (US) to begin a congestion charge scheme for vehicles.
The scheme began on Sunday and now requires car drivers to pay a charge of up to $9 (£7) a day for driving in the designated congestion relief zone.
Vehicles will incur the charge if detected driving from the bottom of Central Park to the southern tip of Manhattan, covering landmark sites such as the Empire State Building, Times Square and Wall Street.
Janno Lieber, CEO of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), announced the new scheme to reporters and said:
“We’ve been working on this for five years but you stand in midtown for five minutes and you know we’ve got to deal with the traffic problem. Now, we’re showing the world that in New York, we do something about our challenges.”
Four hundred lanes of traffic are now covered by around 1,400 cameras, 110 detection points and 800 signs, all dedicated to enforcing the congestion charge.
The congestion charge plan was initially paused by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, but the scheme revived at a lower charging rate.
Incoming President-elect Donald Trump is among the opposition resisting the scheme.
The scheme aims to ease New York’s notorious traffic problems and raise billions for the public transport network.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said NYC “fought tirelessly” to bring the pricing into force and “get the system started before Trump becomes President”.
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