While commercial trucks entering Manhattan will be charged depending on the truck size and time of day, there are workarounds.

Starting just after midnight on Sunday, drivers began paying a new fee to enter the heart of Manhattan. The toll is part of New York City’s plan to reduce some of the world’s heaviest traffic while raising billions of dollars to pay for improvements to mass transit.

The countdown to congestion pricing in New York City is over. Drivers now must pay a toll to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street.

Monday marked the first weekday that thousands of drivers in New York paid congestion price fees when entering parts of Manhattan. Passenger vehicles will now pay as much as $9 to drive past 60th Street during peak hours.

The program had defied many obstacles over the course of decades. It debuted over the weekend on what seemed to be a successful first day.

Congestion pricing has finally arrived in New York City after years of political bickering and scores of legal challenges. The first initiative of its kind in the US, the $9 toll for most drivers entering parts of Manhattan during peak hours began Sunday and promises to ease both gridlock and pollution while also raising $15 billion for desperately needed subway upgrades.

New York City’s long-awaited congestion pricing plan began on a freezing night over the weekend when few drivers were on the road and transit workers could turn on tolling equipment at a relaxed pace.

The nation's first congestion pricing system got underway in New York over the weekend after a last-ditch legal challenge failed to block the controversial new tolling program. New York’s new toll for drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street began just after midnight on Sunday after a U.