NYC, NYS and MTA should keep pushing toll-dodge fight

With electronic tolling of vehicles scheduled to commence in Manhattan's business district by June 30, state and transit officials are vowing to crack down once and for all on rogue motorists who dodge bridge and tunnel charges by obscuring, covering, folding, faking, or altering their license plates.

Tens of millions of dollars a year already go unpaid at existing toll crossings. So it was nothing short of necessary that as part of the recent New York State budget deal, lawmakers added tougher strictures against blocking the ability of electronic devices to read license plates.

These changes have some promise. It becomes explicitly illegal for plates to be covered by glass or plastic, or by a “ghost plate” — something that looks official but is not. Fines for these kinds of violations, which currently range from $50 to $300, will rise to a range of $100 to $500 upon conviction when the law takes effect Sept. 1. Repeat offenders can have their licenses suspended. Transit agencies can also boot or tow cars and revoke the registrations of vehicles used in these schemes. 

At the same time, however, the same bill — assembled as part of the budget deal appropriately known in Albany as the “big ugly” — seems to have been strapped with a loophole or two. As noted by the good-government group Reinvent Albany, motorists can avoid toll evasion fines by immediately “correcting” a fake or obscured plate.

Doesn't that seem counterproductive?

“We think this is a bad idea and will be widely abused,” the group said in a statement. “We agree with the Governor’s far more effective, original proposal to allow officers to immediately confiscate illegal plates and covers, then issue a summons.” That complaint should be acted upon soon. There’s nothing that says the bill’s restrictions can't be tightened in this latter part of the legislative session.

Up to this point, state, New York City and Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have tried to demonstrate that they are throwing their weight around. Earlier this year, it was announced that a multiagency effort to catch the fakery resulted in 73 vehicles impounded, 282 summonses issued and eight arrests.

Fighting the fake-plate scourge could have positive side effects that go beyond toll evasion. Cops have been saying for years that the dubious practice of obscuring plates — whether with spray paint, or tape, or other materials — can come in just as handy for miscreants fleeing a robbery, a burglary, or another crime.

The system must force and sustain a change in behavior. The MTA should continuously collect and publish relevant data such as total fines and summonses collected, lost revenues, and judgments.

When it comes to crackdowns, what’s good for the fare-beater should be good for the toll-beater. And what’s bad for their cheating is good for the public. The state shouldn't soft-pedal theft.