Nearly a year ago, New York City embarked on a controversial program to toll drivers entering some of Manhattan’s busiest streets. The goal of the congestion pricing plan, the first of its kind in the US, was to improve air quality and raise $15 billion to upgrade the city’s extensive — and aging — transit system, all while relieving traffic in a routinely clogged part of town.
Critics of the initiative warned that imposing a $9 fee on most drivers would dampen economic activity in an area that was still trying to rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic, while placing an outsized burden on small businesses and working families. Opponents ranged ...