With the first week of New York’s Congestion Pricing toll in the books, commuters are reaping a reward, spending less time in traffic in exchange for their $9 toll to enter lower Manhattan, said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Traffic in Midtown and lower Manhattan was down nearly 8% after the first full week of congestion tolling, according to preliminary traffic data released Monday by the MTA. “It has been a very good week here in New York,

Beginning Sunday, most motorists will have to pay $9 for driving below 60th Street in Manhattan, as New York’s first-in-the-nation congestion pricing plan takes effect in an area traversed by 700,000 vehicles daily.