One way to think about a traffic congestion charge, the principle of paying more for faster delivery.

I'm David Brancaccio. A daily toll for vehicles using the busiest part of New York City has entered a fourth day.

The new congestion charge is aimed at reducing asthma deaths from air pollution, easing clots of traffic, and raising money for public transit.

For cars, it can be as much as $9 a day for commercial vehicles that tops out at more than $21 a day, depending on size and time.

Now, part of the cost-benefit analysis is if the tolls do reduce congestion, it could make deliveries quicker and cost-efficient.

Marketplaces Kristen Schwab reports.

Congestion pricing is supposed to encourage people out of cars and onto public transit.

But that's not really an option for business deliveries.

Kelly Rula directs the Urban Freight Lab at the University of Washington.

There isn't an easy alternative to just move a box truck's worth of goods onto the subway,

for example, to get a restaurant their Pepsi that day.

But there are strategies companies and customers might use to help reduce their driving

and delivery costs.

They could make their packaging more efficient and remap routes,

or expand cargo bike delivery programs. Or Rula says, schedule deliveries during the late night

and early morning hours when congestion pricing is less expensive. So you might see businesses

starting to take into consideration some of these other programs that are in place in the

city that now maybe pencil out differently now that congestion pricing is in place.

But not every business can staff a loading dock or freight elevator at two in the morning,

says Zach Miller, Vice President of Government Affairs at the Trucking Association of New York.

The challenge is that really that is on the Miller, Vice President of Government Affairs at the Trucking Association of New York.

The challenge is that really that is on the receiver, not so much the trucking company.

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