It’s just a matter of time before critics of congestion pricing come around to it, according to Kathryn Wylde, the president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City.

Wylde, a longtime proponent of the tolling program — which went into effect Sunday — pointed to London, England as a success story New York City is trying to emulate. London introduced a congestion pricing program in 2003, mainly due to environmental concerns at the time, Wylde said.

“In other cities that have introduced a congestion relief zone, indeed they have won over the critics, and those zones have been maintained and expanded,” Wylde told “Mornings On 1” anchor Pat Kiernan Monday.

But in New York City, introducing a congestion pricing toll is about more than just the environment, Wylde said.

The toll will help raise funds to improve the public transit system across the five boroughs, and in the process, relieve some of the worst congestion in Manhattan, Wylde said.

“New York is a walkable city, it’s increasingly a bikeable city, and with congestion pricing, we think that buses are going to move a lot faster, and that people are going to understand that they have real mass-transit options that are practical,” she said.

According to MTA numbers, New Yorkers lose an average of 117 hours sitting in traffic every year, costing each commuter nearly $2,000 in wasted time. On a busy day within the congestion zone, the typical driving speed drops to 7 mph, the MTA’s data shows.

“We are the second-largest economy in the world, of city economies. We’re second only to Tokyo. We’re going to keep growing, we have to keep our productivity up, which means people in New York, workers in New York accomplish more in less time,” Wylde said. “Congestion is the enemy of that effort.”