Is NYC’s controversial $9 toll working? The data is in.

E-ZPass readers and license plate-scanning cameras over Park Avenue in New York, on April 24, 2025. | Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Could a $9 toll change notorious traffic? New York became the first American city to find out. 

A year ago, it began charging drivers for entering Manhattan’s busiest central neighborhoods during peak hours. Critics called it a cash grab, and President Donald Trump even vowed to kill it.

But a year in, congestion pricing has largely proved to be a success...