Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Bridge Tolls

Q Poll: Move NY’s Toll Swap Jacks Up Public Support for Road Pricing

By Ben Fried | May 14, 2015 | 6 Comments

A new poll released by Quinnipiac today reveals how much New Yorkers warm to the idea of tolling the East River bridges when the policy is paired with lower tolls on outlying crossings. A lot: Support for putting a price on the free bridges rises from 27 percent to 44 percent if accompanied by toll reductions […]

How Much Will Fares Rise Without Closing the MTA Capital Plan Gap? Try 25%

By Charles Komanoff | May 12, 2015 | 4 Comments

When the MTA’s chief financial officer warned last month that the likely price for failing to fund the authority’s capital plan was a 15 percent fare hike, the response was swift. Just 24 hours later, according to Newsday, MTA chief Tom Prendergast “backed away” from that scenario, calling it “unconscionable.” Evidently the one thing worse […]

Margaret Chin: Toll Reform Will Protect New Yorkers From Truck Traffic

By Brad Aaron | Feb 12, 2015 | 25 Comments

City Council Member Margaret Chin today introduced legislation to require the city to examine the effects of New York City’s dysfunctional bridge toll system on traffic safety. The bill would also mandate regular DOT safety audits for all city truck routes. Trucks account for 3.6 percent of vehicles on city streets but are involved in 32 […]

You Know What’s Fundamentally Regressive? NYC’s Current Toll System

By Ben Fried | Nov 27, 2013 | 29 Comments

Well, a few words from Andrew Cuomo made clear that fixing NYC’s broken road pricing system won’t be on the table before next year’s statewide elections. But some opponents of congestion pricing — notably, Eastern Queens City Council Member Mark Weprin — are warming to Sam Schwartz’s toll reform plan, which calls for a uniform […]

IBO: MTA Fares on Pace to Rise 50 Percent Over Next Decade

By Stephen Miller | Jul 30, 2013 | 2 Comments

The 2009 MTA funding package passed by Albany included a plan to increase fares and tolls every other year. The most recent of those fare hikes, implemented in March, increased fares 8.4 percent, with the MTA anticipating another increase in 2015. If this pattern continued for the next decade, fares would rise 50 percent, to […]

John Liu Releases a Bridge Toll Plan That Panders to Motorists

By Ben Fried | Apr 10, 2013 | 14 Comments

So John Liu has managed to take an excellent idea — tolling the East River bridges — and turn it into a policy disaster. The key component of Liu’s plan, which he says would raise $410 million annually, isn’t the tolls — it’s the exemption for city residents. Here’s what Liu said at an Association […]

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