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Tolls for thee, but not for me
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers have tapped a little-known transit fund to dole out free tolls to Queens and Bronx drivers — a giveaway that critics say conflicts with congestion pricing’s goal of discouraging driving.
Starting Saturday, Bronx residents who sign up for a new program will get an instant rebate on the $3.18 E-ZPass toll to cross the Henry Hudson Bridge. Queens residents will get a full discount on the $2.60 Cross Bay Bridge toll. The fund will also maintain an existing discounted rate of $2.75 for Staten Island residents to cross the Verrazzano Bridge.
New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer said the rebates were a slap in the face to other drivers across the region who will have to pay a $15 daytime toll to enter Manhattan below 60th Street once the MTA launches congestion pricing.
“The irony here is rich,” said Gottheimer, one of the Garden State’s most vocal critics of congestion pricing. “They don’t really care about congestion or pollution.”
The state will cover the cost of the free tolls by pulling $20.5 million from New York’s “Outer Borough Transportation Account,” which was established by state lawmakers in 2018 with the goal of boosting transit options in city neighborhoods that are far from subway stations, the MTA confirmed. The account is funded by surcharges on taxi and for-hire vehicle trips that enter the busiest parts of Manhattan.
But last fall, Hochul — along with representatives appointed by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins — ordered nearly all the money be used for toll discounts to drivers, according to a letter from Heastie’s office obtained by…
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