Congestion Pricing

A clear majority of Washington-area residents oppose congestion pricing — charging drivers a toll to enter the District during high-traffic times to ease congestion — according to a recent Washington Post-Schar School poll.

The Council voted Tuesday to nix funding for Mayor Bowser’s ride-free program, but it added money for a congestion-pricing study, scooter parking and a new NoMa Metro station tunnel.

Traffic in Washington is already bad and could get worse when autonomous vehicles arrive. But D.C. Council members want to look at ways to reduce congestion and delays and move more people than cars. So how do you do that?

Free DC Circulator rides and potential increases in residential parking fees are two issues in a bruising budget battle between Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council.

When Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that she was making the D.C. Circulator bus free to ride, she said it would promote transit equity and give people an incentive to ditch their cars.

Driving into part or all of D.C. could require paying a toll in the future, under a $480,000 study proposed by the D.C. Council.