What to Know
- Get ready to spend more money to cross bridges, ride trains and take taxis to New York-area airports
- Port Authority unanimously approved a proposal to raise tolls at its bridges and tunnels and hiking fares on its PATH rail service
- Fares will also be raised on trains to JFK and Newark Liberty International airports
Commuters will have to dig deeper into their pockets to cross bridges, ride trains and take taxis to New York-area airports as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey board unanimously approved its price hike proposal on Thursday.
To adjust for inflation, the Port Authority officials proposed raising tolls at its bridges and tunnels and hiking fares on its PATH rail service and on trains to JFK and Newark Liberty International airports. The money will also be used to fund the agency's $5 billion in capital projects.
Here's how it breaks down:
- Cash tolls will rise from $15 to $16, and E-ZPass rates will rise $1.25 for both peak and off-peak periods, by the beginning of 2020.
- The air trains to JFK and Newark airports rise from $5.00 at JFK and $5.50 at Newark to $7.75 at both, beginning as early as Nov. 1.
- Single-ride PATH rail tickets will stay at $2.75 but discounts for multi-ride passes will be significantly reduced.
- The Port Authority also approved a surcharge on taxis and app-based car services at New York-area airports.
Toll increases tied to inflation at the authority's four bridges and two tunnels were previously authorized by the Port Authority board in 2008 and again in 2011. Tolls rose in four scheduled increases between 2012 and 2015.
The proposal also makes changes to three other aspects of the toll schedule: discounts for out-of-state E-ZPass accounts; the NY/NJ Staten Island Bridges discount program; and the Carpool Discount program.
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance had harsh words after Port Authority's announcement, saying the cash-strapped agency just wants to "steal the food off (drivers) tables."
This fee — on top of a devastating $2.50 congestion surcharge in Manhattan and after a 36% drop in revenue for yellow cab drivers — appears manufactured at the state level to wipe out a sector that has kept the airports moving for decades," said NYTWA spokesperson Bhairavi Desai.
