Congestion Pricing Plan Calls for Tolls on the City's Free Bridges

Transportation advocates want to implement tolls on the city's free bridges spanning the East River and across the entire length of 60th street in Manhattan within a congestion pricing plan designed to filll an estimated $15 billion hole in the MTA's capital budget. 

Unlike past congestion pricing plans proposed by past mayors, the new twist is a so-called toll swap: seven MTA bridges would get lower tolls while commuters who drive across the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro bridges from every avenue crossing 60th Street would pay $5.54 each way with E-ZPass.

That matches the current toll rate on the Queens Midtown and Brooklyn Battery tunnels.

The Move NY Fair Plan would decrease tolls by $2.50 in each direction on the city's major MTA bridges, including the Verrazano and Throgs Neck.

And everyone who drives south of 60th Street in Manhattan would get charged electronically as high-tech cameras scan the vehicle's license plate, and be charged a congestion fee. A similar system is in place in London. 

Drivers like James Sullivan are ready to pay up. 

"It'll be worth it for me to pay extra. A lot less people will be on the street that shouldn't be here right now," said James Sullivan who drives delivery trucks for a living. 

For congestion pricing advocate Alex Matthiessen, it's about "fairness."

"You cannot continue to tax the city's outer drivers over and over again," he said. 

Plenty of drivers remain resistant to the idea their free ride could be over, of course. 

"It's too expensive; they should start charging for the light, too," griped one driver. 

"You got enough tolls, man, Everywhere you go, there's a toll," another driver said. 

Similar proposal have died before in Albany. The governor has yet to say if he supports the plan, but supporters say this time is the charm. 

"If somebody has a better plan, we'd like to hear it," said Matthiessen. 

A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said the assembly would review the plan, nothing that he has not supported tolls on East River bridges in the past. 
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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