The new toll, up to $9 for passenger cars at peak times, is intended to support public transit, reduce traffic, and help emergency vehicles move faster.

The toll, known as congestion pricing, is meant to reduce traffic gridlock in densely packed Manhattan while also raising money to help fix the city’s ailing public transit infrastructure. It formally took effect Sunday.

New York’s new toll for drivers entering lower Manhattan has begun after it withstood years of political wrangling, a last-minute pause and a flurry of legal challenges.

New Yorkers adjust to congestion pricing that imposes a $9 toll to enter lower part of Manhattan, More Videos

Our colleague Jeff Coltin was out on the streets in the wee hours Sunday to witness the first drivers being tolled for coming into Manhattan’s central business district. What comes across from his photo of the moments congestion pricing began — as a Tesla passes beneath a tolling gantry — is really how unremarkable it is.

Brutally cold temperatures and blustery conditions made for an uncomfortable trek into Manhattan for many on the second day of congestion pricing.