Drivers sit in traffic at the Jersey City entrance to the Holland Tunnel on May 9, 2023.
Photo by Ben Brachfeld
Stay in your lane, congestion pricing. Next year, the metro area will also see a toll hike on the Port Authority bridges and tunnels connecting New York and New Jersey.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced on its website that new toll rates will go into effect for the George Washington, Bayonne and Goethals Bridges, the Outerbridge Crossing, and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels on Jan. 5, 2025.
This is the same day that the MTA will launch its congestion pricing program, charging vehicles a base toll of $9 to enter Manhattan south of and including 60th Street.
Most motorists with passenger vehicles using the Port Authority crossings during peak hours will pay $16.06 with E-ZPass ($18.31 by mail), up from $15.38 with E-ZPass this year.
All tolls are collected when vehicles enter New York from the interstate crossings. Tolls are not collected when drivers arrive in New Jersey.
According to the agency’s website, Port Authority crossings are cashless and no longer accept cash toll payments.
Approving the budget
On Dec. 12, the Port Authority’s board of commissioners approved its $9.4 billion 2025 budget which will help support the redevelopment of the region’s airports, the remodeling of its Midtown Manhattan bus terminal, a rehabilitation of the George Washington Bridge, among other projects.
“For over a century, the Port Authority has been a pillar of imagination and innovation, shaping infrastructure that endures and evolves with this dynamic region,” Port Authority chairman Kevin O’Toole said. “This budget continues our effort to set a bold new standard for that work.”
He added that investments are part of an “ambitious capital program” for the agency.
“We’re investing significant money to keep the pedal to the metal on what has become the most ambitious capital program in our 103-year history, overhauling, modernizing and refreshing this region’s critical infrastructure as we chart a course to keep our region moving into an even stronger future,” O’Toole said.
When it comes to travel cost increases, it is not only motorists feeling the pinch.
NYC straphangers will pay more for trains and buses with an MTA fare hike scheduled to go into effect in August 2025. Although the state agency has not announced the official cost of the increase, it has approved 4% fare hikes in recent years. If the trend continues, the increase would go up 10 cents to $3 for bus and train fares.
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