Toll evasion at NYS bridges, tunnels, roads focus of Hochul proposals

ALBANY — With the state losing $50 million or more annually, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposals for cracking down on drivers who obscure or hide their license plates to avoid tolls appear to be gaining steam with the State Legislature.

Though details are still in flux, lawmakers said it’s clear that toll evasion is a growing problem that needs to be tackled sooner than later.

“It’s a lot of money they are stealing from the state and you’re seeing it happen, day to day,” said Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans). “These people who are flipping or obscuring plates, we need to take those tools away.”

At issue is the rise in toll evasion at state bridges, tunnels and roads. A recent data analysis by Newsday found drivers dodging 224,000 tolls per month last year at bridges and tunnels overseen by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The MTA recently estimated it’s losing nearly $50 million per year on toll evasion.

And there’s more. At Port Authority crossings, tolls that couldn’t be billed because of obscured plates averaged about 191,000 per month. Newsday also found Suffolk County couldn’t bill nearly 20,000 tickets for red-light violations last year because of obscured license plates.

“We need external help at this point, and that’s beyond policing,” said Sammy Chu, the former Suffolk County representative to the MTA board, at a recent meeting.

The issue also perhaps takes on more urgency as the state readies to impose congestion pricing in June for driving in certain parts of Manhattan at certain time periods as a way to encourage use of mass transit.

Hochul has put forth a raft of ideas, such as suspending vehicle registrations for those who don’t pay their tolls, giving law enforcement authority to seize license plate covers and increasing fines, and adding toll evasion to the list of offenses considered a “theft of services” and a misdemeanor.

Another proposal calls for banning sale of “vanish plates” and other covers designed to make license plates unreadable. At a recent MTA board meeting, MTA officials showed videos of cars with devices that automatically covered or flipped their license plates with a press of a button.

Hochul and her predecessor, Andrew M. Cuomo, have made similar proposals in past years that went nowhere. In general, the Democratic-led State Senate and Assembly have been averse to increasing penalties.

But the scale of toll cheating is giving the issue new momentum, Comrie and other lawmakers said.

“This isn’t just something being said by a government official or in an interesting news story. This [is] something people are seeing on the roads and in their neighborhoods,” said Assemb. Kenneth Zebrowski (D-Clarkstown), chairman of the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, the panel that oversees the MTA.

“They’re seeing what looks to be willful altering of license plates, scratching off numbers or something that’s clearly put there on purpose,” Zebrowski said. Without a crackdown, he said, toll cheating could build on itself.

“When people feel like nothing will happen and it becomes commonplace, it snowballs,” Zebrowski said. “And if more people feel like, ‘Well, they’re doing it and nobody’s enforcing it, then I’m going to start doing it.’ So I do think now’s the time to deal with it.”

Comrie, who leads the Senate Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, said: “People who are gaming the system — we need to do everything to stop them.”

Democrats in both houses are finalizing what’s called their budget resolutions, which essentially set up parameters and goals for negotiating the state budget with Hochul. The chambers are likely to vote on those resolutions next week.

Sources said while legislators have concerns about details of penalties, the majorities aren’t calling for rejecting toll-evasion measures.

Then there’s the question of how effective any of the steps can be. For example, if a driver successfully obscures their license plate, will the state ever be able to track them down?

Comrie acknowledged there will be challenges, but that shouldn’t stop lawmakers from moving forward.

“I think [toll evaders] will try to ignore it as much as possible and some of it will depend on just how much enforcement [Hochul] can put out there,” Comrie said. “I don’t want the George Washington Bridge shut down every day because they’re chasing scofflaws. But we need to let these people know they can’t get away with it.”

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy