Long Island truckers don’t drive on the New York State Thruway every day. But under a new surcharge quietly proposed by the Thruway Authority, they’re about to start paying for it anyway.
If there is one thing truckers know, it is this: when government adds arbitrary new costs to freight movement, those costs never stay in the trucking industry. They spread to the businesses that depend on us and, ultimately, to the families who buy the goods we move.
That is exactly what is about to happen in New York.
The Thruway Authority has effectively created a new fee on roads and bridges it does not even operate. Under their plan, the state would add an additional 1 percent surcharge on tolls processed by commercial toll-management providers throughout the entire E-ZPass network. Not just on the Thruway. On every toll. Everywhere. Every time.
That means Long Island truckers will pay this surcharge when they cross the George Washington Bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge or the Verrazzano — some of the most expensive commercial crossings in the country. It also means they will pay it when they travel on toll roads in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania or Massachusetts.
For Long Island carriers, that matters a lot. Geography already puts them at a disadvantage. To move goods off the island and into the rest of the region, they have to cross some of the costliest toll facilities in America. A typical five-axle truck can pay well over $100 to cross the George Washington Bridge one way. A trip over the Verrazzano or Throgs Neck can cost roughly $80 to $110 depending on class and timing. Those are not minor expenses, especially for companies making multiple trips a day.
Now the Thruway wants a percentage of those crossings too.
What makes this especially absurd is that Thruway officials are defending the new surcharge by pointing out how inexpensive the Thruway is compared with neighboring states. They have noted that commercial vehicles pay about 19 cents per mile on the Thruway, far less than the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which can exceed 60 cents per mile.
But this new fee turns that argument on its head. Because the surcharge applies to tolls across the full E-ZPass network, Long Island trucking companies will now be paying the Thruway Authority an extra fee when they drive on those expensive Pennsylvania toll roads — or anywhere else in the system.
At a recent budget hearing in Albany, Thruway officials acknowledged that this surcharge did not go through the traditional public process typically associated with toll changes. There was no formal public review, no vote by the Thruway Board and no meaningful opportunity for stakeholder input before the plan was announced.
Source: LI Press
