MTA voting on price hike for bridges, tunnels and beer
A file photo of cars going through the toll booths at the Whitestone Bridge. (June 4, 2003) Credit: NEWSDAY STAFF/Julia Gaines
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board is set to vote Wednesday on a resolution to increase the cost of tolls on its nine bridges and tunnels.
Cash tolls on major crossings, including the Queens Midtown Tunnel and Throgs Neck Bridge, would climb from $5.50 to $6.50 - an increase of about 18 percent.
E-ZPass customers would pay $4.80 at major crossings, an approximately 5 percent increase over the current price of $4.57.
If approved, the new tolls would take effect Dec. 30.
The proposed toll hike is part of the MTA's plan to increase fare and toll revenue by 7.5 percent overall next year to help fill a $900-million budget gap.
Robert Sinclair, a spokesman for AAA New York, said the toll increases are the latest example of drivers being unfairly forced to fund mass transit.
MTA Bridges and Tunnels is the only one of the agency's divisions that regularly produces a surplus - and it subsidizes the authority's money-losing transit operations, such as the Long Island Rail Road.
"This is all happening as the roads and bridges are falling apart," said Sinclair, who said drivers also pay for mass transit through gasoline taxes and Department of Motor Vehicle fees.
"The motorist pays and pays and pays and pays and is not getting what they're paying for," Sinclair said.
MTA board member Mitchell Pally, of Stony Brook, who sits on the MTA Bridges and Tunnels committee, said the theory of the state and the MTA is that drivers benefit from mass transit.
The rationale behind the idea is that, without mass transit, those who are riding trains and buses would further clog roads with their cars.
The MTA is trying to keep the pain for drivers at a minimum, Pally said, by offering deep discounts for E-ZPass customers.
In addition, Pally said, the agency is planning for a fully electronic toll system in which there would be no gates and no cash transactions.
Also Wednesday, the MTA board is expected to vote to increase the price of all beers sold on the LIRR's Penn Station platforms by 25 cents.
The new prices, which if approved would take effect in January, are expected to generate $100,000 more each year in profit for the railroad, officials said.
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'Almost nearly eliminate your risk' Long Island sisters Amy Lynn and Danielle Safaty each had both breasts removed in their 20s, before they had any signs of breast cancer. Newsday family reporter Beth Whitehouse reports.
