Truckers in New Jersey and New York are none too happy about a recently announced plan increasingly tolls at tunnels and bridges leading into New York City.
Approved by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the plan will raise tolls in September and continue to climb to 2015. Truckers using the E-ZPass will shell out $2 per axle next month, plus an additional $2 per axle increase each year from 2012 through 2015. Truckers paying in cash will have to pay a $3 per axle penalty. The hikes are less for automobile drivers.
Some truckers are hopping mad about the change, which essentially amounts to a 125-percent increase by 2015. The toll hikes are partly to fund reconstruction of the World Trade Center site, with only a fraction of the money going to infrastructure improvements.
“There’s been so much coming down on our industry, I don’t know how much more our guys can take,” said New Jersey Motor Truck Association president Gail Toth. “For the money we truckers have paid the Port Authority over the years, we should have a gold-plated bridge.”
An outrage or a reasonable increase. What are your thoughts?
