‘No more car for me’: will a $23 toll finally rid Manhattan of gridlock?

Planners say congestion pricing will slash traffic in the area - and offer a much-needed $15bn boost to public transit

Could a moonshot policy finally rid the nation's most congested city of its incessant, noisy, polluting traffic? Soon, over a million drivers a day could be forced to cough up as much as $23 to enter midtown and lower Manhattan - a toll that planners say will raise $15bn to fund New York public transit while cutting vehicles in the area by as much as one-fifth.

Among the cars that would be leaving the streets of Manhattan is a white Honda Accord that was parked on East Broadway in the Lower East Side on Wednesday.