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DMV Raises Fees, NYC-Area Drivers To Pay $$$

2009_09_mclovin.jpg New rates for things like driver's licenses and registration fees from the NY State Department of Motor Vehicles went into effect yesterday. All over NY State, the standard driver's license fee is now $64.50—up from $50, but in NYC and surrounding counties drivers will have to pay $80.50, because those areas are helping bail out the MTA. Registration fee-wise, a typical passenger vehicle will cost $55 (up from $44), but in the NYC-area, it'll be $105. Republican legislators are using the high fees to show how much Governor Paterson has raised taxes, but Paterson said he'd consider reducing them if the GOP can find revenue elsewhere, "I'd be happy to entertain it but they are not just going to be able to get up at a news conference and act shrill. They are going to have to tell us where they can close the gap."

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Comments [rss]

  • dadoc

    How about fee scale based on MPG and carbon footprint? Sorry, wouldn't work, I have a license but no car, you can drive any car once you have a license. Maybe vehicle registration fees based on weight, MPG, odometer readings, violations and accidents? Seems fair. Oh, that and a $10 registration fee for bikes, baby strollers and really slow walkers. Just kiddin, guys!

  • afbnegx3

    Why is there a pic of a Hawai'i Drivers license?

  • Why do you have such a weird bike helmet for an icon?

  • Potty Boy

    lol.

  • jibbly

    Pop Cultural Reference Fail

  • marcasm

    That's McLovin from Superbad. Hilarious

  • JLRodP

    How about NY state and NYC lower spending, cut programs, and lay off overpaid bureaucrats. Thus, lowering taxes. Duh!

  • drewo

    That would actually require hard work and tough decisions. Easier to just raise fees and taxes!

  • hotstepper

    the parties would actually have to work together to make that happen. not a chance for that until we vote out those entitled incumbents and get some term limits.

  • Steven

    Exactly. Raising prices is the easy and simple way out.

  • Brooklyn

    We can look forward to even more shitty drivers with PA plates.

  • valeriob

    "Truck drivers, for example, will have to pay higher fees as well, which will likely be passed along to consumers."

  • Toby von Meistersinger

    All this will do is cause a rise in the trend of people registering their vehicles out of state (often in places where things like inspections are lax) where it is much cheaper.

  • Papercutninja

    Because it's easier and cheaper to have a second address in a different state and then have to drive back to that state to renew your license/registration/inspection? Yup. It'll be a trend.

  • maevemealone

    Not so unreasonable if you register at a family residence that you visit a couple times a year. Most people I know with cars in city or surrounding boroughs keep their car registered out of state.

  • I'm with Manitoba2 on this; the fee is too low, & it should be spread to everyone in the state. I'm tired of subsidizing drivers, breathings their poisonous exhaust, & listening to them lean on their horns. Eff cars.

  • Manitoba2

    The cost should be equivalent, no matter where you live in the state.

    That said, the fee is too low. How long does a license last for? 6 years? So, to get licensed to drive still costs less than $20/year. The cost should be about $100/year to drive, and a non-driving ID should be $10/year. If you want to drive in a city, where you don't need to, you should have to pay $500 for a license and $100-200/year to register your car.

    Drivers claim they get tired of subsidizing mass-transit, but I think non-driving taxpayers are tired of subsidizing the repair and construction of bridges and roads we don't use. Let drivers pay for the repairs with higher license fees, higher registration fees, higher inspection fees, tripled tolls and congestion fees. Don't like it? Don't drive.

  • JanetG

    I got a renewal notice (in mid-August):$80.50 for an 8 year renewal

  • JenChungsBaby

    I got my license renewed in July -- 8 years for $50. Hopefully the fee will come back down before then.

    You can stop paying for bridges and roads as soon as you agree not to ride on them ever or to use any goods or services that require those roads to get to you. And to refuse the help of any NYPD, FDNY, EMS, etc. that use those roads. Or to receive any visitors or deliveries that use those roads. That includes sidewalks.

  • drewo

    Yes, like drivers and non-drivers alike, my food and other services arrive via the biways and highways.

    But unlike the drivers, I do not own or operate an automobile. I am not using and beating on the road and bridges infrastructure to the same degree that an automobile owner does.

    If you want me to pay for the bridges and roads you drive over every day, then please chip in for Mass Transit.

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