New York City’s controversial congestion pricing initiative is gradually gaining support, although the new toll has yet to win over a majority of voters.

The fee started on January 5, with most drivers paying $9 to enter Manhattan south of 60th street during peak hours. The goal is to ease traffic while raising revenue to help rehabilitate the city’s more than a century-old transit system.

About 40% of those polled across the state said the fee should be eliminated — as the Trump administration is seeking to do — while 33% believe the program should continue, according to a Siena College poll of registered voters, released on March 10. Opposition to congestion pricing has decreased slightly from a Siena poll in December, when 51% opposed the $9 toll while 29% were in favor.

More New York City residents now support the program than oppose it. About 42% said the toll should remain while 35% want it eliminated, according to Siena’s latest poll. That’s a reversal from December, when only 32% supported the $9 fee while 56% were against it.

Still, a Quinnipiac University poll released March 5 showed 54% of New York City residents oppose congestion pricing while 41% support it. At the same time, 49% disapprove of President Donald Trump trying to end the toll compared with 45% who approve his actions, the poll found.

The program, so far, is decreasing gridlock in parts of the city. There are about 60,000 fewer cars per day in the tolled zone since congestion pricing began, a 10% decline, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which oversees the city’s transit system and is implementing the fee. It’s also reduced morning travel times on bridges and tunnels going into the city.

The MTA collected nearly $49 million from the congestion pricing toll in its first month, and officials anticipate it will bring in $500 million annually. The program will help finance $15 billion of infrastructure improvements to modernize the city’s subway, bus and commuter rail lines.

The MTA last month sued the U.S. Department of Transportation after the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) said it plans to withdraw its agreement with the transit agency that allows it to impose the toll. The MTA is seeking a court decision to declare FHWA’s actions as “null and void.” 

Siena College conducted its latest poll between March 2 and 6, among 806 registered New York voters.