Toll hikes OK'd fro GWB, NJ tunnels, PATH service
The bi-state agency is expecting a $9.4B budget
By: Danial Munoz
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Getting into Manhattan and using Newark Liberty International Airport will be more expensive next year. [2025]
.....
That's thanks to a series of toll increases at the Hudson River crossings and a fare increase for PATH, which the Port authority of New York and New Jersey approved on Thursday. [12/12/2024]
..... Separately, the bi-state approved price increases at Newark, JFK and LaGuardia airports meant to offset wage increases for the airports lowest-paid workers.
..... the increases come on the heels of a reintroduction of the controversial congestion pricing toll by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, which betting next month [01/2025] as well. New Jersey politicians including governor Phil Murphy and Representative Jose Gottheimer - have vowed to oppose the congestion prising plan, which the Biden administration approved in late November, [2024]
..... The Port Authority board toll approved increase at the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, as well as the George Washington Bridge, Bayonne, Goethals and the Outerbridge Crossing bridges.
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Drivers currently pay $15.38 during rush hour to use any of those river crossings. Tools are cheaper for those with E-Z Pass.
..... Tolls would increase by 25 cents on January 5, 2025, followed by additional 25-cent increases between 2026 and 2028, in addition to automatic toll kikes based on inflation.
..... The toll increases are "necessary to address these negative impacts of COVID-19 on revenues and the continued inflationary pressures on our costs," Elizabeth McCarthy, the Port Authority's chief financial officer, said dur9ing the December board meeting Thursday [12/12/2024] afternoon.
..... All told, the bi-state agency is expecting a $9.4 billion budget for 2025, McCarthy said.
..... The pandemic blew a $3 billion hole in the Port Authority's finances over a two-year period. according to McCarthy.
..... Those toll increases come on the heels of toll increases for the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike. Discounts for E-Z Pass users will remain in place, McCarthy said, but certain discounts for truck drivers will be discontinue in July 2025.
..... The Port Authority received 13 comments earlier this month [12/2024] regarding the toll increases, most of which said that the hikes "were outpacing wage growth, and that coupled with congestion pricing, would unsustainably increase costs for drivers," according to the board agenda.
PATH fares will go up for some, down for others
..... Meanwhile, the Port Authority is increasing PATH fares by 25-cents form $2.75 to $3 effective January 12, 2025. That marks the first increase since October 2014, according OT the Port Authority.
..... That comes on the heels of fare increases at NJ Transit - a 15% fare hike this past summer [2024] - to be followed by 3% fare hike annually.
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The PATH fare hike comes in spite of complaints from members of the pubic during the Thursday [12/12/2024] meeting of crowded PATH trains, lack of an extension to Newark Airport, long wait times and spotty service during weekends and off-peak hours.
..... "The population is growing, and the trains are already dangerous crowded on the weekends," said Jersey City resident West Honeycutt.
..... But the agency is rolling out a 50% discount program for riders with disabilities starting in the summer of 2025.
..... "We have witnessed how targeted services and supports can help an individual to thrive in their community," Mu0rphy said in a statement last month. [11/2024] "Public transportation is crucial to our disability community."
..... To support proposed higher wages for the lowest-paid airport workers, the Port Authority is allowing airport concessionaires to raise their prices to a maximum of 15% above the local, off-airport street prices. Shops are currently capped at 10% above local businesses.
..... Agency iconoclasms said the price increases and higher wages - an increase form $19 an hour to $25 an hour - are justified, because they would help retain talent at a time when the Port Authority is modernizing its airports.
....."ensuring liable wages will improve worker satisfaction and increase staff retention, in turn enhancing customer service and advancing our goal of a world-calls airport experience from curb to concession to gate," Port authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said in a November [2024] statement.
..... Several of those workers spoke in favor of the wage increase during the Thursday [12/12/2024] meeting.
..... "The proposal provides a much greater quality of life for me and my coworkers," said Tiana Johnson, who lives in Jersey City and works as a server at the United Club and United Polaris Lounge at Newark Airport.
..... The increase "will mean that airport workers will have a little bit more security and to know that they are not falling behind," said Johnson, a member of the union Unite Here Local 100.