MOVE NY: New Tolls or Lower Tolls?

Your choice: New toll – High costs, no transportation investment

Move NY – Lower tolls, fixed roads and bridges

When MTA tolls and fares increased on Sunday, Move NY volunteers fanned out to all seven MTA bridges to get the group’s message directly to motorists:
New York’s drivers have a choice.

The group says Bronx drivers can continue down the old, congested road of spiraling tolls, crumbling infrastructure and unequal treatment.

Or they can choose lower tolls, money to fix roads and bridges, less congestion and a fair deal for everyone. In other words, the Move NY Fair Plan, says the group.

Supporters of the Move NY Fair Plan say it would lower tolls on all seven MTA bridges, add $375 million annually to fix the city’s roads and bridges, and balance tolls so that all drivers pay their fair share.

Councilman Jimmy Vacca is already on board as a stronger supporter. “The plan put forth is a well thought out transportation policy and it represents an opportunity for discussion and a course of action that will address the city’s gridlock and the high price of tolls and MTA fares that significantly affect outer borough residents,” said Vacca earlier this month.

On Sunday, Move NY boosters held the signs aloft as motorists faced the fifth toll hike in seven years. The group — with support from business leaders, unions and trucking groups alike — is calling on Albany lawmakers to solve the transportation-funding gap by equalizing tolls on the city’s bridges and tunnels with a “toll swap,” which would lower tolls on all seven MTA bridges and end the free ride on crossings into the Manhattan south of 60th Street.

The “Your choice” signs compared the new toll to the Move NY proposal. The Move NY Fair Plan calls for lower fares at these seven bridges:

Crossing Toll as of March 22            Move NY proposal                % reduction

RFK-Triborough $5.54                                     $3.04                                       45%
Bronx-Whitestone $5.54                                  $3.04                                       45%
Throggs Neck $5.54                                            $3.04                                       45%

Verrazano-Narrows $11.08                             $6.08                                       45%

Marine Parkway $2.08                                    $1.08                                       48%
Cross Bay $2.08                                                $1.08                                       48%
Henry Hudson $2.54                                       $1.54                                        39%

Tolls shown are for E-ZPass. The Move NY Fair Plan calls for the same reduction amounts for cash payers.