Experts: Port Authority Cash Flow May Force Another Hudson River Crossing Toll Hike
FORT LEE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- There may be trouble down the road for people crossing in and out of New York City.
As CBS2's Lou Young reported, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is burning through cash at such a furious pace that it may need to hit up drivers again.
Financial service companies working on some of the Port Authority's books said the already-stiff $15 price that we pay to cross over or under the Hudson River may go up even further.
Some suggested the authority itself is preparing for another dollar hike before the end of the decade.
"Sixteen dollars? That's a little pricey," said driver Miguel George.
"I think it's crazy," said driver Kerry Donovan.
CBS2's Young spoke with transportation analyst Martin Robbins on the phone, and Robbins said toll hikes for the Hudson River crossings are unexpected, but certainly not inevitable. He said it is part of the Port Authority's programs of using the profits from vehicles to pay for projects that do not make money.
The American Automobile Association said the tolls are a cash cow the Port Authority finds irresistible.
"They had five toll hikes consecutively -- unprecedented toll hikes for 2011 until December of 2015," said AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair. "It now costs a trailer truck $105 to cross this bridge. That gets passed on to everybody in the city."
But crossing is a necessity, whether you are a student like Terry Balyon who needs the bridge to get back home and go to school, or have a fleet of small trucks like business owner Allan Rappaport.
"It's about $1,500 a month, every month," Rappaport said.
Tolls are already the Port Authority's largest source of income, but with a new bus terminal in Manhattan, a new airport at LaGuardia, and road improvements on the New Jersey side suffering under an impoverished transportation fund, something has to give.
Critics suggested the Port Authority look elsewhere for cash.
"(Driver are) absolutely getting hosed, and they've been getting hosed for a while now," Sinclair said.
The Port Authority said although there are no plans for future toll increases, "periodic changes in the tolls will be implemented to keep pace with inflation."
AAA has been in court trying to limit where the Port Authority can spend its toll money. So far, it has not been successful.