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 City kicked off the first congestion pricing program in the US, part of an effort to reduce the number of vehicles in the world’s most traffic-clogged urban area while raising money for transit infrastructure.

New York’s much-debated plan to charge drivers to enter the center of Manhattan is set to take effect Sunday just after midnight, following years of bureaucratic and legal roadblocks. The goals of what is known as “congestion pricing” are to reduce gridlock and pollution and raise revenue for public transit.