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The first congestion charge scheme for vehicles in the US has come into effect in New York City.<\/p>\n
Car drivers will pay up to $9 (\u00a37) a day, with varying rates for other vehicles.<\/p>\n
“The system has been in operation since midnight [05:00 GMT Sunday],” Janno Lieber, CEO of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), told reporters.<\/p>\n
Four hundred lanes of traffic are now covered by more than 1,400 cameras, with more than 110 detection points and more than 800 signs, he said.<\/p>\n
President-elect Donald Trump is among those resisting the scheme, but Mr Lieber said he was confident agreements with the government would “stand up to changes of administration”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The congestion zone covers an area south of Central Park, taking in such well-known sites as the Empire State Building, Times Square and the financial district around Wall Street.<\/p>\n
The scheme aims to ease New York’s notorious traffic problems and raise billions for the public transport network.<\/p>\n
New York state Governor Kathy Hochul made the case for a congestion charge two years ago, but it was delayed and revised following complaints from some commuters and businesses.<\/p>\n
The new plan revives one scheme that she paused in June, saying there were “too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers”. <\/p>\n
Most drivers will be charged $9 once per day to enter the congestion zone at peak hours, and $2.25 at other times.<\/p>\n
Small trucks and non-commuter buses will pay $14.40 to enter Manhattan at peak times, while larger trucks and tourist buses will pay a $21.60 fee.<\/p>\n
Hours after the scheme began traffic was moving briskly along the northern edge of the congestion zone at 60th Street and 2nd Avenue, the Associated Press reports.<\/p>\n
Many motorists seemed unaware that the newly activated cameras, set along the arm of a steel gantry above the street, would soon send a new charge to their E-Z Passes, it says.<\/p>\n
“Drivers are going to start to see the toll charges appearing on their E-Z Pass bills in a few days,” Mr Lieber said later. <\/p>\n
The charge has encountered plenty of opposition.<\/p>\n
“Are you kidding me?” New Jersey estate agent Chris Smith asked, speaking to AP. “Whose idea was this? Kathy Hochul? She should be arrested for being ignorant.”<\/p>\n
The most high-profile opposition has come from Trump, a native New Yorker who has vowed to kill the scheme when he returns to office this month. <\/p>\n
Local Republicans have already asked him to intervene.<\/p>\n
Congressman Mike Lawler, who represents a suburban district just north of New York City, asked Trump in November to commit to “ending this absurd congestion pricing cash grab once and for all”.<\/p>\n
A judge denied an 11th-hour effort on Friday by New Jersey state officials to block the scheme on grounds of its environmental impact on adjoining areas.<\/p>\n
Last year, New York City was named the world’s most-congested urban area for the second year in a row, according to INRIX, a traffic data analysis firm.<\/p>\n
Vehicles in downtown Manhattan drove at a speed of 11mph (17km\/h) during peak morning periods in the first quarter of last year, the report said.<\/p>\n
Among those welcoming the new scheme was Phil Bauer, a surgeon who lives in midtown Manhattan.<\/p>\n
“I think the idea would be good to try to minimise the amount of traffic down and try to promote people to use public transportation,” he told AP.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n