NY Thruway Authority Working On 1st E-Z Pass Rate Hike In 14 Years

ALBANY, NY — The New York State Thruway Authority could raise tolls for E-Z Pass customers for the first time since 2010. The controversial plan would raise tolls even more on non-E-Z Pass holders.

The toll barriers that would be affected locally include New Rochelle, Nyack, Spring Valley, Harriman and Yonkers.

The New York State Thruway Authority Board of Directors authorized the start of the toll adjustment process at a meeting on Monday. The process takes months and includes public hearings.

The Thruway is a user-fee supported roadway and receives no federal, state, or local tax dollars, NYSTA officials pointed out. They said the fee increases are necessary for maintenance: The average age of the Thruway’s 815 bridges is 55, with 75 percent of those bridges more than 60 years old; and 85 percent of the Thruway’s roadway base dates back to its original construction, needing heavy reconstruction and rehabilitation activities to keep the riding surface in a state of good repair.

The rate hike would be most onerous for drivers who do not have NY E-Z Pass.

Beginning in 2024, the plan would increase the Tolls by Mail rate differential (above the NY E-ZPass rate) to a 75 percent differential from the current 30 percent. Holders of E-Z Pass from other states would see their rate jump from the current Non-NY E-ZPass 15 percent rate differential to a 75 percent differential. Standard toll rates for Non-NY E-ZPass (currently 5.1 cents per mile for passenger cars) and Tolls by Mail rates (currently 5.8 cents per mile for passenger cars) would increase to 8.6 cents per mile for both groups by 2027.

For holders of NY E-Z Pass, under this proposal, beginning in 2024, the base NY E-ZPass rate would increase by 5 percent except for the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge. A second 5 percent increase would take effect in January 2027.

For the MCB, the plan is:

Rockland County Executive Ed Day submitted a statement to the NYTA Board opposing the proposed hike for the bridge.

Day pointed out that the Bear Mountain Bridge toll was far lower even though it also runs between Rockland and Westchester counties. Drivers using EZ-Pass at the Bear Mountain Bridge pay $1.55 per crossing and the planned increase for the Bear Mountain Bridge to $1.65 per crossing is still a bargain, he said.

State Senator-elect Bill Weber (R,C-Rockland) also denounced the proposed rate hikes.

"Rockland families are struggling to make ends meet in the wake of the pandemic, amidst historic inflation and rising costs of goods," he said. "Instead of reining in their own spending and focusing on ways to provide much-needed relief for struggling New Yorkers, unelected Albany bureaucrats are planning to inflict more economic pain by hiking tolls on the Thruway and the Mario Cuomo bridge."

Assemblyman Colin Schmitt of Orange County called on the State Comptroller’s office to first conduct a full audit of the Thruway Authority, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The MCB and the Bear Mountain Bridge have tolls far lower than those into New York City. For example, the George Washington Bridge, also across the Hudson River, has a toll of $13.75.

Even after the proposed increases, systemwide rates would remain below the current standard rates of many other thruway systems across the nation, Thruway officials said. The Thruway base passenger vehicle toll rate is less than $0.05 per mile, compared to the New Jersey Turnpike ($0.11 per mile) and the Pennsylvania Turnpike ($0.14 per mile), they said.

Bridge repairs are one of the Thruway Authority's biggest concerns, as crumbling bridges are a nationwide problem.

More than 85 of them have been identified for replacement within the next decade, officials said. Then the need to replace bridges grows exponentially; hundreds of bridges will need to be replaced in the following decade.

Officials said the projected replacement cost for the most immediate 85 bridges needing replacement is roughly $800 million in today’s dollars. Factoring the hundreds of bridges that will require replacement not long thereafter, the costs escalate into the $6 - $7 billion range which the existing toll rate structure will not support.

Any potential toll adjustments along the Thruway system are subject to the State Administrative Procedure Act (SAPA), the Public Authorities Law, and the State Environmental Quality Review Act.

Public hearings will be conducted in 2023.

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