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The first congestion pricing program in the United States is taking final shape in New York City, and it appears likely that most drivers will have to pay $15 to enter some of the busiest streets in Manhattan as soon as next spring.
Officials on Wednesday provided the clearest picture yet of the tolls they hope to implement. They aim to collect roughly $1 billion annually to fund improvements to the city’s subway and bus networks.
The program still faces a few hurdles, including a final vote by transit leaders and a legal challenge from New Jersey officials. But after various failed attempts over decades, New York seems poised to join a handful of other global centers with a toll program that aims to encourage the use of public transit, reduce pollution and unclog some of the world’s most traffic-choked streets — roughly the southern third of Manhattan.
In a brief report, officials said cars would pay a toll of up to $15 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street once per day. Commercial trucks would pay as much as $36. Taxis will add $1.25 per fare, and ride-hail apps like Uber and Lyft will tack on an extra $2.50 per ride.
The report also revealed who would get the biggest discounts, credits and exemptions, which have been hotly debated questions. The recommendations were narrowed down from a list of possibilities that had been studied over the past year.
“It’s a huge step forward for the region,” said Carl Weisbrod, the chairman of the Traffic Mobility Review Board, an advisory panel that wrote the report. “We’ve seen it work elsewhere around the world, and now it is becoming concrete.”
London, Stockholm and Singapore have congestion programs that are considered models because they have successfully reined in traffic. New York’s proposal would cost a typical motorist a bit less than London’s and a bit more than Stockholm’s.
The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which would oversee the program, could still make tweaks to the pricing structure. When the advisory group’s report is released on Thursday, it will be opened to public input. And opponents of congestion pricing are still trying to derail it in court.
The plan had stalled for decades because of a litany of complaints from commuters and civic and business leaders: Many drivers feared having to pay new tolls on top of existing ones, and other critics worried that traffic and pollution would be diverted to other parts of the city.
Urban planning experts said that even if the program meets its intended goals, the authority must closely monitor the effects of the tolls and make adjustments if there are any negative ones. Yonah Freemark, a researcher at the Urban Institute, said that it is impossible to know for certain how the fees will reshape traffic patterns.
“We’ve seen some previous evidence that the congestion charge, according to some models, may result in more traffic and more pollution in parts of the Bronx because of people choosing not to go through the central business district,” Mr. Freemark said. “I think that’s something that deserves monitoring.”
Various groups have sought exemptions, including taxi and Uber drivers and suburbanites, dragging out the program’s approval. The most aggressive objection has come from New Jersey lawmakers, who sued the federal government in July for signing off on the plan. Officials in that state cited concerns that the tolls would place unfair financial and environmental burdens on residents. The lawsuit remains unresolved.
But for now, nothing is stopping the M.T.A. from moving forward with the program and unveiling a pricing structure that is probably approaching its final version.
The most recently proposed toll of $15 falls near the middle of the fee scale that the authority had been considering, which ranged from $9 to $23. The advisory group’s tolling structure also has minimal exemptions, discounts and credits, which Mr. Weisbrod said was done in order to benefit “the many, not the few.”
The proposal sought to strike a balance among many competing interests. Advocates praised the suggested rates as reasonable and on par with other cities around the world.
Lisa Daglian, executive director of the transit authority’s Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, a watchdog group, said congestion pricing would supply desperately needed funding for signals, new train cars and electric buses. “Congestion pricing is not only an idea whose time has come,” she said. “It’s long overdue.”
In a prepared statement, a spokesman for Gov. Kathy Hochul noted that Ms. Hochul had been critical of a $23 fee. He emphasized the governor’s support of congestion pricing and the need to improve New York’s transit system while getting rid of pollution and traffic.
Low-income drivers will get 50 percent off tolls during the day after the first 10 trips in a calendar month. It will also be much cheaper to drive at night: Between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., fees will be reduced by 75 percent.
Drivers of passenger vehicles who enter the congestion pricing zone through the Queens-Midtown, Hugh L. Carey, Holland and Lincoln Tunnels will receive a $5 credit during daytime hours. Motorcycles will get a $2.50 discount, small commercial trucks will get a $12 credit and larger trucks will get $20 off. Drivers who cross into Manhattan over the George Washington Bridge, north of the congestion zone, would not receive a discounted toll.
Certain vehicles carrying people with disabilities and authorized emergency vehicles will not be charged. People whose primary residence is inside the tolling district and whose income is below $60,000 would be eligible for a state tax credit equal to the amount of their tolls.
The congestion pricing zone runs from 60th Street to the Battery, but omits the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive on the East Side of Manhattan and the West Side Highway.
The group had also grappled with how much to charge taxis, because cabbies fear that higher fares will shrink taxi demand. The new report recommends charging yellow cabs less than for-hire vehicles, to assuage concerns that added costs would put them at a disadvantage against Uber and Lyft. But it does not give cabbies the full exemption they had sought.
The rates proposed this week will be subject to public hearings before a final vote, which could come as soon as early next year. The M.T.A., meanwhile, said that it had already installed 60 percent of the electronic equipment needed to toll drivers.
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