State officials last week did little to quell discontent over the surprise revelation at a recent public meeting that tolls on the new Tappan Zee Bridge would be nearly triple what they are now.
Larry Schwartz, secretary to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the governor”™s point man on the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project, said at a hastily called Aug. 5 media briefing that tolls would increase whether or not a new bridge is built. The public meeting had been held just three days before.
The state estimates round-trip tolls on the new bridge will be $8.40 for commuters, $13.30 for E-ZPass users and $14 for those who pay cash.
Currently, commuters pay $3.30 round-trip, while E-ZPass users pay $4.75 and cash customers pay $5.
For a commuter who crosses the bridge five days a week, the cost per week will increase almost 155 percent from $16.50 to $42.00, which comes to $2,184 annually.
If a bus rapid transit system were to be included in the initial construction of the bridge, tolls would jump to $16.80 for commuters and $28 for cash customers, Schwartz said.
He added tolls would rise to $7.20 for commuters and $12 for cash customers even if no new bridge were built, due to the high cost of repairs.
“Under any of the options, tolls will have to rise,” Schwartz said. “But we”™re talking about in five years ”“ we”™re not talking about five minutes from now”¦We”™re talking about five years from now when this new bridge opens.”
Representatives of several Tarrytown businesses last week said they expect the toll hikes will hurt both employees and customers.
Rich Friedman, general manager of the Doubletree by Hilton in Tarrytown, said that when the toll hikes take effect, businesses that had been planning meetings at the hotel or that had planned to send employees to attend meetings there may reconsider.
“People are going to be affected when prices rise like that and yes, from a business standpoint, if a company has got to reimburse tolls for 50 people to come over for a meeting, chances are they”™re going to stay on that side of the water,” Friedman said. “No one likes to see prices jump like that.”
The flip side of the argument, Friedman said, is that building a new bridge will help to generate economic activity and new business.
He said the Doubletree might need to look into providing transportation across the bridge for employees and clients, and added that the projected toll increase makes it even more necessary that mass transit be incorporated into the bridge.
Bjorn Olsson, executive director of the Tarrytown Music Hall, said between 10 and 15 percent of the theater”™s patrons reside in Rockland County or New Jersey.
“For us, I would say it”™s certainly not good,” Olsson said. “I think for all of us who run businesses on both sides of the river, we worry about this because it”™s not like going from $5 to $6 or $7 ”“ it”™s a whole new level of pricing. I don”™t think any of us would say, with our products, ”˜Why don”™t we up the price by 200 percent today.”™”
Schwartz at the Aug. 5 briefing twice dodged the question of whether the state would consider raising tolls now in order to reduce the amount by which tolls would need to be raised five years from now.
“These are the ballpark projections that we”™ve been putting out there for these three options and that”™s what I think we need to focus on,” he said.
At the Aug. 5 meeting, former Westchester County Executives Al DelBello, Andy O”™Rourke and Andy Spano each spoke in support of the bridge plans.
A spokesman for County Executive Rob Astorino said that while Astorino is supportive of the bridge and the proposed commuter discount price, the forthcoming toll hike puts the spotlight back on mass transit.
“We understand it”™s a significant hike and we really believe it underscores the need for some type of mass transit,” said spokesman Phil Oliva.
Town of Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner criticized the proposed toll hike, saying that the cost of building a new bridge should be spread across the state Thruway system rather than being confined to the Hudson Valley region.
“It”™s going to impact the local businesses, restaurants and stores on both sides of the river, and small businesses,” Feiner said. “The bridge construction (cost) should be absorbed by people throughout New York state and if they did that it would reduce tolls.”
