The Giuliani administration yesterday attacked the Port Authority’s plan to hike bridge and tunnel tolls across the Hudson as a “thinly veiled” attempt to fatten the agency’s coffers.
Deputy Mayor Joe Lhota charged that the toll hikes – up to 75 percent for cash-paying drivers – would boost the cost of doing business and drive companies out of the metropolitan region.
“Anyone with foresight could see that raising the cost of living in the metropolitan area only drives working people away, taking jobs to other parts of the country and hampering economic growth,” Lhota said at a public hearing on the toll proposal yesterday.
Lhota was among two dozen people who turned out to speak at the first of three days of hearings on the PA plan.
Money raised from the toll hikes will be put toward the agency’s next five-year, $14billion capital plan to rebuild and expand bridges, tunnels, airports, shipping terminals and the PATH train.
PATH riders would be hit hardest, with a one-way fare between New York and New Jersey doubling to $2 and round trips going for $3.
Transportation advocates, environmentalists and building trade groups lauded the plan that would stagger the increase in tolls so that drivers crossing at the busiest times of day would pay more than at off-hours.
But the handful of commuters who spoke at the hearings blasted the steep increase in tolls – from $4 to $7 for cash.
“I’m opposed to this toll increase because I believe it is an unfair tax increase without legitimate legislative review,” fumed Peter Shea, who said he has no choice but to drive from New Jersey to work in Manhattan.
Lhota said the PA can’t show that its “congestion pricing” strategy will actually reduce traffic during rush hour, likening drivers on the tunnels and bridges to “guinea pigs” in an untested experiment
Lhota said Mayor Giuliani would call on the PA commissioners to reject the toll hikes. The authority’s commissioners are set to meet Jan. 25 on the proposal.
If the board approves, the toll hikes will go to Gov. Pataki and, most likely, New Jersey State Senate President Donald DiFranceso, who will replace Gov. Christie Whitman once she’s confirmed as the new federal environmental-protection chief.