NYC congestion pricing confusion: Will drivers be charged to exit the zone?

NEW YORK - The way congestion pricing is said to work is that drivers will be charged a toll for driving south of 60th Street into the congestion zone. Still, Fox 5 News noticed a new gantry has been installed on 1st and Madison Avenues in Manhattan, raising the question, will drivers also be charged for leaving the congestion zone as well as entering it?

Right now, the MTA says cars will pay $15 to enter the congestion zone south of 60th Street.

The MTA told FOX 5 NY the gantries installed at these locations are "for data collection, to assist in understanding the movement of vehicles into, out of, and through the Central Business District."

"One of the things that the MTA wants to do is understand what the travel impacts are of the policy," said Rachel Weinberger, Ph.D. of the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit corporation that supports congestion pricing.

Weinberger says the data collection will be able to tell the MTA if drivers are changing their driving habits and routes.  

"What they'll be able to see then is if the people coming southbound on the adjacent avenues matches the number of people who are going northbound and from that they'll be able to know if people are taking, if they're diverting their trips and maybe traveling through neighborhoods that they might, that the city and the MTA has an interest in vehicles not traveling," Weinberger said.

FOX 5 NY asked the MTA if, at some point in the future, the gantries could be used to charge drivers leaving the congestion area.

The MTA responded, saying "No tolls are contemplated for vehicles exiting the congestion zone."

"The legislation is written as a driver will be charged once per day entering or staying in the zone," Weinberger said.