Results tagged “tollhike”

Grab some quarters if you're crossing the East River today. The crossings run by the MTA—the RFK, Whitestone, Throgs Neck Bridges plus the Midtown and Battery Tunnels all go up 50 cents to $5.50 today. The toll hike is the last phase of the revenue being raised by the MTA in the face of their budget crisis. Of course at one point the plan involved tolls being introduced to the East River crossings, but that dream proposed by now (sort of) Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch was shot down by everyone's favorite state senators. Other tolls going up today include the Henry Hudson, Marine Bay, Cross Bay and Verrazano Bridges—the last of which is now up to a whopping eleven dollars. One Upper West Sider told WCBS 2, "I don't understand how you can get away with it, I mean it is better than the doomsday scenario. It was poorly advertised and a lot of people are going to be caught off guard."

The NJ Turnpike Authority will be raising tolls on the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. The Star-Ledger reports that the "first hike comes in December, and the second comes in 2012....A drive along the full length of the Turnpike, which now costs $6.45, will more than double to $13.75 by 2012. Driving the Parkway from top to bottom also will more than double in four years." While the state government raised tolls to fund road improvements and fund other projects, the NJ Motor Truck Association criticized the plan, "If you're paying $8 extra per truck and you have a fleet of 100 trucks, that's an extra $800 per day. How many small businesses can absorb that?"