new york

Patrick Foye, chief executive at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ) says the law suits by their pensioners to maintain lifetime toll-free privileges are "offensive." Playing hardball he has asked New York and New Jersey tax agencies to investigate whether the pensioners owe the two states taxes on the value of these "perks." And whether they should be charged interest and tax penalties for failing to declare their taxable value.

After more than a decade of wishful thinking about transit as the centerpiece of reconstruction of the Tappan Zee Bridge  (TZB) over the Hudson River north of New York City plus rail and bus in some 30 miles of the corridor, state governor Andrew Cuomo has slimmed the project down to replacing the highway bridge - which has a chance to be substantially funded with toll revenues.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has written Andrew Cuomo the New York state governor lambasting the decision to abandon planning for a rebuild and modernization of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) and the Gowanus Expressway (GE), both NY/I-278 and urging they be financed with a public private partnership and pension fund i

New York State DOT's abandonment of a project to rebuild the 70 year old Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) and a connecting portion of the Gowanus Expressway for lack of money has produced calls to reconsider it with toll financing and public private partnerships (P3s).

Friday August 19 was Capitulation Day at the Port Authority New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ).

A day after the Port Authority NYNJ announced huge toll increases for September, after a panic over a threatened bond downgrade, the Governors of New York and New Jersey conferred Friday and agreed to block the PANYNJ plan. NY Gov Andrew Cuomo and NJ Gov Chris Christie issued a joint statement in which they referred to the PANYNJ toll increases as "indiscriminate and exorbitant."

MTA Bridges and Tunnels in New York City is beginning a swap-out of 1.2 million E-ZPass transponders. They're sending out new transponders (also known as tags) and a postage-paid envelop for customers to return their old transponders that are judged to be nearing end of battery life. The 1.2m being taken out of service represent 35% of the 3.4m transponders MTAB&T had on issue at the end of January - attached to 2.1m accounts.

by New York deep mayor Stephen Goldsmith, WALL STREET JOURNAL 2011-03-18

A new report to customers by New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYMTA) is mostly devoted to what's being done to make the subways and buses run better but there are couple of pages embracing all-electronic tolling at the City's bridges and tunnels. The report is titled "Making every dollar count" Agenda 2011." There's a link to the full report at the bottom.

Big shots at New York's MTA did a ceremonial removal of a toll gate for the cameras today at the Henry Hudson bridge toll plaza on the northern tip of Manhattan. Seven overcoated gloved officials were led in the media performance by the giraffe-like Jay Walder chairman/CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority - a man of basketballer height at close to 7ft, 2m tall.