Rhode Island residency discount on E-ZPass challenged in law suit

A Connecticut woman is heading a law suit against Rhode Island Turnpike & Bridge Authority (RITBA) over discriminatory toll rates for E-ZPass. RITBA which only introduced electronic tolling on their Newport Pell Bridge this January is charging $1.75 to out of state E-ZPass Inter Agency Group (IAG) accounts including Massachusetts FAST LANE.

Motorists who have not established Rhode Island residency but who buy a Rhode Island transponder get a 91c/trip toll for 30 or more trips in a 30 day period but pay the $1.75 for single trips.

Cash tolls are $2.00.

See table at the bottom of this report.

The law suit in US District Court features Isabel S Cohen who lives in Fairfield County CT and is filed by the same New York and Boston lawyers who recently filed a suit against the Massachusetts Turnpike and Massport's Tobin toll bridge over their local residents discount pricing.  That suit is headed up by Carol Surprenant, a Rhode Island resident and business college professor who goes to Boston's Logan airport to travel, and who complains that she pays several times the toll paid by residents near the tunnels.

The law suits argue that discrimination in pricing by residence is unconstitutional based on the interstate commerce clause, the equal protection clause, and the privileges and immunities clause of the US Constitution.

RITBA citing 2007 Mass Court decision

David Darlington chairman of RITBA is quoted in a report today in the Providence Journal as saying that at the toll authority they believe the price discrimination is legal based in part on a  2007 ruling by Judge Allan van Gestel of Massachusetts Superior Court and case law that he cited. Gestel found that Massachusetts harbor tunnel discounts did not interfere with interstate commerce, in part because of their distance from any state line.

He also declared a "compelling state interest" in protecting nearby residents as a justification.

see our report on the similar law suit by a Rhode Islander against the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and MassPort:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4074

TOLLROADSnews 2009-03-31