Frequently Asked Questions about East
River bridge tolls - and the Answers
Q. What are the East River bridges?
A. They're the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro Bridges, connecting
Brooklyn and Queens with Manhattan.
Q. Why toll them?
A. Two main reasons:
1) Tolls will
unsnarl traffic, save time for thousands of commuters and truckers on or near the
bridges, and improve life in the surrounding neighborhoods.
2) Toll revenues will help prevent deeply damaging cutbacks in
transit, schools and other vital services now and in years to come; and
Q. How much will it cost to cross the bridges, and how much money would be raised?
A. The levels haven't been set, but they will probably be pegged to the tolls
charged by the MTA on the
Triborough Bridge and the Queens Midtown and Brooklyn Battery Tunnels, which are now
$3.50 each way with E-ZPass. Applied to the four East
River bridges, this will yield close to $2 million a day - almost $700 million a year.
Q. Where will the toll plazas be located?
A. There won't be any. E-ZPass readers mounted on unobtrusive overhead
structures will collect tolls electronically from vehicles traveling at highway speeds.
Q. What about drivers who don't have E-Z Pass?
A. Cash-paying drivers can always cross via the Tri-borough and the Queens Midtown and
Brooklyn Battery Tunnels. Drivers will probably also be able to purchase E-Z Cards
with preset toll amounts from licensed third parties.
Q. Why will bridge tolls reduce traffic congestion?
A. To avoid paying a toll every day, some drivers will switch some trips to carpooling
or transit, resulting in fewer cars on the bridges and connecting highways
and making for a much faster trip for the remaining traffic.
Q. Will enough drivers switch to make a difference?
A. We estimate that tolls will eliminate between 6% and 7% of
current trips on the free bridges, or 4-5% of trips on all the
East River crossings (including the MTA facilities). This will
speed traffic by more than 30% on the bridges and by several
percent through large areas of Brooklyn and Queens that feed
them, shaving 2-3 minutes from a typical 45-minute trip across
a free bridge -- a 5% saving. Local trips now impeded by bridge
traffic will move faster as well.
Q. Will those time savings add up to much?
A.
Yes, big time. We estimate that drivers, passengers and truckers
will save a combined 37 million hours a year they now lose in
traffic, with the vast majority of these savings occurring in
Brooklyn and Queens. Based on typical values of motorists' time,
those hours will be worth $650 million a year, enough to offset
most of the cost of the tolls.
Q. Won't tolls hurt poor and working people?
A. No. Heavy users of the East River bridges tend to be affluent. Compared to their
neighbors who don't drive to work via an East River bridge, bridge commuters earn, on
average, $14,300 a year more - enough to cover the cost of bridge tolls almost ten
times over.
Q. But still, won't tolls fall heavily on working people?
A. No. Out of almost 6 million adults of driving age living in New York City, only
100,000 or so drive to work on an East River bridge. The other 98% either work in the
borough where they live; or commute from one "outer borough" to another; or cross the
East River on a tolled MTA bridge or tunnel; or take transit; or are out of work or
retired. These 98% will average under $50 a year each in East River tolls.
Q. Where will toll revenues go?
A. Some will probably go to transit to finance new subway lines and other
improvements. Some may go to the city treasury for schools, libraries and parks. More
important than the precise allocation is that all of the revenues will support vital
public services.
Q. Why not fill city coffers by reinstituting the commuter tax or raising taxes on
the rich?
A. Bridge tolls would bring in almost $700 million a year, almost
twice the take from
the old commuter tax. In fact, tolls paid by Long Islanders and New Jerseyans will
put back a third of the "out-of-town" revenue the City lost when the commuter tax was
repealed in 1999. But it isn't either-or. To make a dent in the City's $5
billion-a-year long-term budget deficit, we need those measures plus toll revenues.
Q. Shouldn't NYC residents - or drivers living far from subway lines - get toll
discounts?
A. Although few city residents use an East River daily, it's also true that most
people using the bridges live here. Discounts big enough to help drivers would
neutralize the tolls and leave us where we are now - strapped for revenue and stuck
in traffic.
Q. What about disabled persons who must drive into Manhattan?
A. Disabled drivers from New Jersey already pay to use the MTA bridges and tunnels and
to cross the Hudson River into Manhattan. In general, accommodations for the disabled
are intended to make public services accessible, not free; wheelchair users of city
buses and subways pay the same fare as everyone else.
Q. Would tolls really be a tax on Brooklyn, as some politicians charge?
A. On a total dollar basis the prospective cost of East River bridge tolls for
Brooklyn residents is a lot less than what Manhattan residents are already paying from the
18.5% increase in residential property taxes in Fall 2002. Seen as a budget-balancer, bridge
tolls look more like equity than highway robbery.
Q. Will tolls really cut congestion? Won't there be massive backups in Brooklyn and
Queens?
A. Remember, there will be no toll plazas to create additional delays. And keep in
mind that massive backups are the rule now. By weeding out
some of the traffic stream East River tolls will elimintate as
much as 9% of citywide traffic-congestion delays, while
shrinking total vehicular travel less than 1%.
Q. Can't we manage traffic without bridge tolls, say by eliminating free parking for
government workers in the Central Business District and through better traffic
enforcement?
A. We should do those things in any event, not as substitutes. But the tolls will
also contribute two-thirds of a billion dollars a year for city services. And they'll
solidify other traffic reforms by keeping other New Yorkers from getting into their
cars and filling road space opened up by better traffic management.
Q. What about charging higher tolls in peak times like the morning rush, with
discounts during off-peak?
A. "Value pricing" is an excellent idea. It has already cut congestion on the Port
Authority's Hudson River crossings by inducing some peak traffic to switch to less
congested times. But until the MTA follows suit on its tunnels and bridges, to avoid
confusion and "gaming" we need to hold off on value pricing for the East River bridges
and concentrate on getting them tolled.
Q. Will tolling hurt some neighborhoods, like Chinatown and the Lower East Side,
where there is a lot of back-and-forth travel and weekend trips to restaurants?
A. No. Bridge tolls will add just a small fraction to the cost of the trip (meal,
parking, etc.), and only a minority of customers drive across one of the bridges in
the first place. Of course, lower tolls in off-peak times would ease any impacts on
nighttime and weekend travel.
Q. Will other businesses be hurt by tolls?
A. Other than the traffic helicopters, it's hard to picture a business that tolls
won't benefit. Time is money, and nowhere more than in New York. Truckers and
tradesmen in particular would rather arrive on time than save a few bucks. As traffic
guru "Gridlock Sam" said recently, "Are you telling me that an electrician from Long
Island who makes a hundred dollars an hour wouldn't pay ten dollars to save an hour in
traffic?"
Q. Won't bridge tolls create an artificial division in the city?
A. Most New Yorkers already pay to cross from borough to borough - with their
MetroCard. And a hundred years ago, all four East River bridges were tolled. With
"boothless" electronic tolling, bridge tolls are truly "back to the future."
Q. Isn't it inequitable to charge motorists to drive into Manhattan but not around
Manhattan?
A. True enough. We hope that before long motor vehicles in the Manhattan Central
Business District will be charged by the mile (or, even better, by the minute). But we
can't "let the perfect be the enemy of the good," as the saying goes. Our city needs
revenue and traffic relief now, and the East River bridges are a logical starting point.
Q. Won't the tolls benefit the rich by pricing everyone else off the roads?
A. Not really. People's tradeoffs between money, time, convenience and need are
complex. They're also fluid. On a Southern California highway where a tolled lane was
built alongside the free lanes, many drivers opt for the faster tolled lane a few
times a week or month, depending on circumstances. The 4%-5% of trips that will get
"tolled off" the East River bridges won't all be by poor drivers, but by a mix.
Q. Who decides to have the tolls - the state or the city?
A. Both, unfortunately. New York City is largely run from Albany. Bridge tolls must be
permitted by the state legislature and the governor. For political reasons, the mayor
and city council will first have to show their approval by passing a resolution.
Q. How long would it take to build the needed infra-structure?
A. Tolls could probably be operating on all four bridges a year after a decision to
proceed. The overhead structures are modest and can be built quickly. The lead time
for analysis and design could be shortened by starting now.
Q. Are there civil liberties concerns? How would they be addressed?
A. E-ZPass has been operating in the city and region since 1993. Few drivers seem
worried about threats to their privacy. Extending the system to the East River bridges
introduces nothing new. Drivers who nevertheless wish to steer clear of E-ZPass will
probably be able to buy "E-Z Cards" anonymously at gas stations and drug stores. The
cash option will remain at existing tolled bridges and tunnels in any event.
Q. Who supports East River bridge tolls?
A. So far, more people than politicians. A 2002 survey by the respected Quinnipiac
University poll found that New Yorkers prefer bridge tolls by nearly 2-to-1 over
higher taxes or higher subway and bus fares. In fact, tolls were the top choice in
every borough. To date, however, the only elected official actively backing bridge
tolls is Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He needs allies.
Q. What can I do to advance bridge tolls?
A. Speak out. Write letters to the editor. Get your civic group to support bridge
tolls. Urge the mayor to keep pushing. Above all, get your city council member, state
assembly member and state senator on board. Remind them that our city can't afford any
longer to let nearly $2 million a day in toll revenues slip through our fingers,
along with 100,000 hours that drivers lose daily in gridlock. And
tell them that if they won't stand up for tolls, you'll vote next time for candidates
who will.
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