Letter to the Editor: Deeply Reduce MCB Tolls For Rocklanders

To the Editor:

Here are the comments I submitted to the New York Thruway Authority about the proposed toll increases.

Members of the Thruway Authority Board, as many of you are aware, I have stated throughout my administration that any increased toll for the new bridge must include a reduced toll rate for Rockland residents. While it is heartening to see a Resident Discount Program in the Thruway Authority’s Proposed Toll Schedule, the proposed discount rate of $4.75 is simply not low enough. The resident rate should be a significant discount, well beyond the one provided for other E-ZPass® holders. Instead, the proposed Resident Discount is the same as the current Standard NY E-ZPass® toll. In 2021, it would be just 50 cents less than the NY E-ZPass® toll, and in 2022, just one dollar less than the proposed Standard NY E-ZPass® toll. I request your consideration of a significantly lower resident toll rate – one more in line with the Commuter E-ZPass® toll of $3.00.

I have also said for many years that the cost of the new bridge must be shared by everyone along the Thruway system, just as the revenue the old bridge generated for decades went to support the entire Thruway system. I would, therefore, call for a portion of the increased toll revenue that will be generated by the proposed toll increases along the length of the Thruway system be dedicated to the new bridge. This is especially appropriate, given that toll revenue collected on the old bridge was used for many years to plug the financial hole of the Canal Authority. Those funds should have been used to pay for the new bridge and hold down tolls.

I am pleased to see that tolls on the new bridge for commercial vehicles are increasing and that there will still be a discount for NY vehicles. However, as I have requested in the past, and in order to protect and improve the economic health of our region, I ask that the Board establish a lower toll discount for commercial vehicles registered to Rockland County employers.

Regarding the proposed commercial toll increases, it is also vital that the Thruway Board hold firm and approve the proposed increases and not reduce or eliminate them, as has happened on far too many occasions in the past. As a reminder, commercial tolls have only increased by an average of about 3% per year for the past 20 years. The peak NY E-ZPass® toll for a 5-axle vehicle, for example, has only increased from $20 to $32.75 since 2000. The dramatically increased truck traffic traveling through Rockland and across the bridge is a direct result of the extremely low commercial vehicle tolls. There is no question that it is well past time that the commercial toll rates for out of state vehicles crossing the bridge be dramatically increased.

As always, transit improvements must also be a priority for this corridor and for Rockland County, which is tremendously underserved by regional transit systems. Therefore, I would ask that the Board create a dedicated Transit Fund in which a portion of bridge toll revenue is set aside for transit capital improvements between Rockland and Westchester.

Finally, I would request that the Board approve the toll increases for the new bridge with a requirement that the revenue collected at the bridge be dedicated to the bridge and only the bridge. The Tappan Zee Bridge was a cash cow for the Thruway for decades, second only to the Woodbury to Buffalo trips in toll revenue. But the vast majority of that money was spent somewhere else. We can no longer allow revenue generated at this Hudson Valley crossing to be spent elsewhere. $152 million a year in tolls – nearly 20 percent of all annual toll revenue collected by the Thruway Authority – can go a long way to paying bridge costs and keeping tolls from increasing in the future.

I appreciate the Board’s consideration of each of these requests, made on behalf of Rockland County residents and business owners.

Sincerely,

Edwin J. Day

Rockland County Executive