Rush-hour traffic isn’t just an urban nuisance! It’s a billion-dollar drain on time, air quality, and mental health. As cities swell and car ownership rises, congestion pricing has emerged as a bold, data-driven experiment to reshape how people move through urban spaces. The idea is simple: drivers pay a fee to enter busy zones during peak hours, with the goal of reducing gridlock and pollution while funding better public transit. Yet behind that simplicity lies decades of policy evolution, from Singapore’s 1975 Area Licensing Scheme to London’s 2003 rollout and New York City’s upcoming plan, each shaping the modern understanding of urban mobility economics. “Congestion pricing” belongs to the broader family of demand management strategies, which use behavioral economics and environmental policy tools to balance efficiency with equity. The question now facing city planners and citizens alike is whether pricing access to roads can truly create cleaner, faster, and fairer cities, or whether it risks deepening social and economic divides that already run through our streets.