They ran it as a 6-month pilot program first.
They combined it with improvements to transit.
They added more parking spots outside the city.
Doing so helped to lessen the anxiety and incentivized people to leave their cars behind. The program felt less like a punishment and more like an encouragement to shift to other modes of transportation.
After the pilot program ended, Stockholm residents voted to keep it permanent. The program has been running for ~15 years, with some great results:
Traffic is down by 25%.
Air is cleaner.
There’s less noise pollution.
Buses and taxis move faster.
Emergency vehicles have faster response times.
The quality of life is better overall.
Collected taxes are used to keep improving city infrastructure.
Learn more: How Stockholm broke its gridlock with congestion pricing.
After spending a couple days in Stockholm, I was amazed how quiet the city was. While it could partly be due to summer vacations, congestion tax still plays a big role in this.
We walked all over the city, hitting almost every neighborhood, at different times of the day, and we haven’t seen a single traffic jam.