Bronx residents can sign up in advance for a new program that will offer 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 called the rebates “a slap in the face” to other drivers from 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 state plans to cover the cost of the free tolls by pulling $20.5 million from New York’s “Outer Borough Transportation Account,” which was established in 2018, with the goal of boosting transit options in some of the city’s “transit deserts.” The account is funded by surcharges on taxi and for-hire vehicle trips that enter the busiest parts of Manhattan.
Learn more about the little-known transit fund, which enables free tolls for Queens and Bronx drivers at: https://new.mta.info/fares-and-tolls/bridges-and-tunnels/resident-programs.
“The outer borough transit fund was supposed to be to help transit improvements in the outer boroughs to allow for more people to take public transportation,” Queens State Senator Leroy Comrie told Gothamist. Instead, just $1.5 million will be used for public transit, providing discounted $5 LIRR tickets to Far Rockaway residents for trips that start and end within the five boroughs.
MTA Chair Janno Lieber said in February that Hochul and state lawmakers should rethink this decision.
Source: The Gothamist
