Oh this makes me ill. Previously it was reported that the NYC entrance tolls (Holland and Lincoln Tunnel, George Washington Bridge) would go up by $4 (can you imagine..smh) but now it’s looking like it’ll be significantly less………but it’s still going up and as soon as next MONTH!! I can’t deal. I remember the days it was $6. Details after the jump.
The two governors who control the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Thursday evening proposed raising tolls on the agency’s Hudson River crossings by $1.50 next month for drivers paying with E-ZPass. That’s a significantly smaller increase than the agency proposed earlier this month.
Tolls would then rise by 75 cents in each of the following years, for a total increase of $4.50 by 2015. The previous proposal had included a $2 increase in 2014, for a total hike of $6.
Fares on the PATH train will increase 25 cents every year for the next four years, according to the joint proposal by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The agency had previously proposed hiking fares on the PATH train from $1.75 to $2.75.
The new proposal, which will likely be approved Friday by the authority’s board, comes after a familiar trans-Hudson dance that often takes place between the Port Authority and the two governors who control it.
First, the Port Authority proposed a larger-than-expected increase. Then the governors express outrage and dismay. and propose a much lower increase—a figure much closer to what the Port Authority had been considering internally for the past year.
In a letter to the Port Authority’s board, Messrs. Cuomo and Christie said a crisis in its finances made the smaller increase necessary. But cost savings and cuts to the authority’s budget on capital projects meant the larger increase wouldn’t be needed.
“Given the crisis facing the authority and its finances, and the potential safety and economic risks to commuters and businesses, an increase cannot be avoided,” the governors wrote.
