NJ-NY tolls rise by 42% Mar 3 - first rise in 7 years

The seagull will be eating better come the spring. March 2 the Port Authority New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ) will begin garnering tolls at $1,010m/year compared to $710m at present. The board of directors - appointees equally of the governors of New York and New Jersey - made the decision yesterday. PANYNJ tolls the four bridges and two tunnels between northern New Jersey and New York City.

Different toll rates are being increased differently, but assuming little effect on traffic volumes, the revenue projections ($300m more than $710m) indicate an average toll rate increase of 42%.
 
It is the first increase in toll rates since March of 2001. In that time inflation has been 26%.

More variable pricing

With the new toll structure PANYNJ are strengthening their commitment to congestion pricing. They are doubling the $1 differential between peak and offpeak for E-ZPass users who constitute 80% of car travelers:

- Peak hour E-ZPass tolls for cars go up from $5 to $8

- Off-peak E-ZPass tolls for cars go up from $4 to $6

- a new $4 GreenPass E-ZPass for offpeak travel by approved low emissions vehicles

Cash tolls, the same all hours of the day go up from $6 to $8.

Carpool tolls are being increased from $1 to $2.

Class 2 vehicles (dual rear tire, two axle vans) will see their peakhour E-ZPass and all-hours cash tolls go up 33% from $12 to $16, while their offpeak E-ZPass charges go from $10 to $14.

Typical tractor-trailers (Class 5) have their cash and peak E-ZPass tolls go from $30 to $40, while offpeak E-ZPass goes from $25 to $35 and the overnight toll from $17.50 to $27.50.

Bus tolls remain low for the space they occupy: E-ZPass tolls rise form $2.70 to $4, and cash from $3 to $6.

The tolls apply for travel one way (NJ to NY) on all six crossings which include - going southwards - the George Washington bridge and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels on the Hudson River, and the Bayonne, Goethals and Outerbridge Crossing bridges NJ to Staten Island NY.

The adopted toll increases are a slight variation on a plan proposed by PANYNJ staff last fall, since which time there have been public hearings and comment solicited.

To support 10 year capital plan

 Major justification for the toll increases (plus transit fare increases that yield $25m extra) is support for the Port Authority’s 2007-2016 capital plan.

Totaling $29.5 billion, $24b of this is unrelated to toll facilities.

Among the big ticket items mentioned are
- $8.4 billion to rebuild the World Trade Center site
- $3 billion for the new Hudson River passenger rail tunnel
- $3.3 billion to overhaul and modernize the PATH commuter rail system
- $500m to redevelop Stewart Airport

Toll facilities are provided for in these items:
- $1 billion for a new Goethals Bridge
- $500m for work on the Lincoln Tunnel
- $4 billion "to keep bridges and tunnels safe and in a state of good repair"

The tolls apply for travel one way (NJ to NY) on all six crossings which include - going southwards - the George Washington bridge and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels on the Hudson River, and the Bayonne, Goethals and Outerbridge Crossing bridges NJ to Staten Island NY.

The adopted toll increases are a slight variation on a plan proposed by PANYNJ staff last fall, since which time there have been public hearings and comment solicited.

BACKGROUND: The PANYNJ founded in 1921 as the Port of New York Authority began as operator of the sea ports, but has spread into toll crossings, airports, bus terminals, rail transit (PATH), and real estate (World Trade Center).  The airports are self-financing, but all the other operations lose money, except the toll crossings which are the major profit center even at the 2001 tolls - see table nearby.

It is a political creature, granted without competitive bid, indeterminate franchises to operate facilities by the state legislatures, its governance being by delegates of the two state governors. It pays no taxes.

This bistate conglomerate is a major mechanism for transferring superprofits from services for which there is unsatisfied demand (air and road) and channeling them into lossmaking modes or fringe projects that cannot raise capital in their own right but nevertheless serve a political constituency (commuter rail, seaports, the World Trade Center).

An economist's statement of PANYNJ mission: misallocation of resources and thwarting of market forces.

The PANYNJ's history is documented in well written if somewhat adulatory book by Jameson Doig "Empire on the Hudson" Columbia University Press 2001.

TOLLROADSnews 2008-01-04 ADDITIONS 2008-01-05