Highway Robbery...

 

Tolls on the MTA’s seven bridges and two tunnels are set to go up April 1, with the agency’s board unanimously approving an increase on Thursday.

Current toll rates will increase an average of 7.08 percent, the MTA said.

Tolls will increase from $6.12 to $6.55 for E-ZPass users on six crossings: the Bronx-Whitestone, Triboro, Throgs Necks and Verrazzano bridges and the Brooklyn-Battery and Queens-Midtown tunnels. Drivers without E-ZPass will be charged $10.17, up from $9.50 today.

On Upper Manhattan’s Henry Hudson Bridge, tolls will increase by 20 cents for E-ZPass users and 50 cents for everyone else. The Cross Bay and Marine Parkway bridges in Queens, meanwhile, will see tolls spiked from $2.29 for E-ZPass and $4.75 for everyone else to $2.45 and $5.09, respectively.

MTA officials opted to retain a discount for Queens residents for those two bridges, as well as the Verrazzano Bridge’s Staten Island rebate — which will now apply to all borough residents regardless of how many trips per month they take across the bridge.

At the same time, the MTA has created a middle-tier for toll collection: E-ZPass users whose devices are not affixed properly will be charged a “special rate” in between the regular and E-ZPass rates.

Democrats can't find a way to collect the last dollar in your pocket. By the time you pay the gas, car repair, Insurance, tunnells, and congestion pricing, you will be free from your money. Just a thought.