Alexa Gonzalez: The New York State Thruway stretches from Western New York all the way to New York City. The proposed increase in prices will be the first spike for E-Z Pass users since 2010. Drivers like Colette Van Olden say they are not happy about the coming changes.
Colette Van Olden: I’m from Florida so I drive up here a few times a year to visit family, and I already have to pay so much in tolls driving through other states that’s ridiculous they are raising prices here more.
Gonzalez: For E-Z Pass users toll pricing will increase by five percent. Drivers using toll by mail currently pay thirty percent more for tolls. With the increase in prices that thirty percent is expected to be seventy five percent. Van Olden says she already pays between thirty to fifty dollars in
tolls during her drive from Florida.
Van Olden: It makes you wonder what’s next will the other states increase their tolls too. Between tolls
and gas I don’t know if I’ll be able to make these drives anymore.
Gonzalez: The New York State Thruway Authority says this money will go toward fixing roads and keep the thruway running. As of today it gets no federal tax dollars or state funding. Now it is expected byJanuary first twenty twenty four that these proposed toll price increases will take effect. So that means drivers going through New York State will be paying more.
Reporting from Syracuse
Alexa Gonzalez NCC News
Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) – The New York State Thruway Authority will be moving forward with its plans to increase toll prices, after a majority vote on December 5th.
Currently, Toll by Mail customers pay 30% higher in toll rates than E-Z pass users. If the price increase proposal goes through that 30% could raise to 75% by 2024. But E-Z Pass users could see a price increase of only 5%.
Drivers, like Colette Van Olden, were not thrilled about the new announcement. She makes the drive from Florida to Syracuse a few times a year to visit family, says Van Olden.
“Normally going just from Miami to Syracuse, I can pay anywhere from 30 to 50 dollars in tolls and that’s just one way,” says Van Olden.
After hearing about the possible increase in pricing Van Olden expressed concerns about the drive becoming too expensive, between gas and tolls prices, for her to make five or six times a year. The toll increase is ridiculous especially without the E-Z pass, says Van Olden.
“It makes you wonder what’s next will the other states increase their tolls too,” says Van Olden.
This proposal comes because the thruway solely relies on toll money to keep up the infrastructure of the highway. It receives no state funding or federal tax dollars, says the New York State Thruway Authority.
The toll price increase could take effect on January 1, 2024.
