Cuomo & Christie sign off on $1.50 Port Authority toll hikes (Kills chance of Pres/VP)

NY Post ^ | 8/18/11 | JENNIFER FERMINO

[GreaterSwiss]

Gov. Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have signed off on $1.50 toll hikes for all Port Authority crossings that’ll go into effect next month, sources said.

The final fare hikes are far lower than the ones the Port Authority rolled out last month, which called for a $4 increase on most crossings and were met with widespread disgust by politicians and the public.

Christie and Cuomo are also calling for an audit of the agency.

The new $1.50 hikes will apply to cash and EZ-Pass customers on all the Port Authority’s bridges and tunnels.

Cash payers will also be hit with another $.50 cent surcharges.

Under the new plan, a cash diver would typically pay $10 coming into Manhattan on a Port Authority crossing, up from the current $8.

The PATH train fares will also increase, up to $2.00 from $1.75.

The old plan called for PATH hikes up to $2.75, more than the cost of the subway.

[GreaterSwiss]

Happens every time. They give you a high amount to scare you then compromise to a lower amount. The money won't be going to bridges or roads but to WTC building!

After this, I will never vote for Christie for any office but dog catcher.

Tolls are taxes and increase the prices for everyone.

[GreaterSwiss]

this tidbit from WSJ:
Tolls would then rise by 75 cents in each of the following years, for a total increase of $4.50 by 2015. The previous proposal had included a $2 increase in 2014, for a total hike of $6

[Cheetahcat]

Christie loves Islam or is Ignorant of it’s end game,either way he is NOT fit for any role in leadership, at the national level.

[nascarnation]

I’d guess Christie is as good as you’ll get for NJ.
Certainly a huge improvement over billionaire boy Corzine.

As far as national aspirations, not so much.

[Minus_The_Bear]

Fat & stupid are no way to go through life.

[americanophile]

Christie seems to have crested a few months back. His plain spoken toughness now seems increasingly like arrogance, and if he isn’t going to hold the line on taxes, etc., he’s not much good to us.

[GreaterSwiss]

good as you get is bad..

I rather a democrat then a rino who acts like a democrat. Then when things go bad, they’ll be like see we voted republican and this is what we got..

If Christie is going to raise tolls 4.50 when will he hold the line?

[Rome2000]

Idiot slaves that still live in NY and NJ deserve everything that the apparatchik socialist crook governments throw at them.

You can't fix stupid, and make no mistake about it, they will come after every last dime the private sector has before they lay off one parasite or fail to send out a single pension check.

[muawiyah]

Tolls are user fees ~ they are quite legitimate, particularly if they reduce the tax burden on the general public.

BTW, there are no Republican Presidential elector votes to be lost in either New York or New Jersey so this is a big nothing to any of us.

[Minus_The_Bear]

They move and pollute the gene pools in other states.

[GreaterSwiss]

The Port Authority collects $3.5 Billion in tolls now - in addition it is borrowing $2.5 billion more. Virtually all of that money is going to projects such as the Freedom Tower which have NOTHING to do with bridges and tunnels.

Why should I subsidize something unrelated?

[muawiyah]

The "electors" don't. In fact, they don't come into existence except every four years just about the time we vote for President.

Once their vote is certified they just disappear.

We need some toll bridges here so that Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware people have to pay to visit Virginia.

[ccmay]

Kills chance of Pres/VP

Pfft, sorry to burst your bubble, but there is hardly a soul outside New York and New Jersey who cares about the cost of tolls. Those who do, probably are in favor of them being high enough to pay for all the cost of the bridge and tunnel construction and maintenance.

[wilco200]

“Tolls are user fees ~ they are quite legitimate, particularly if they reduce the tax burden on the general public.”

Name a single instance where that is the case? In every case they are an additional fee on top of all of the other taxes - which incidently continue to go up as well

[muawiyah]

Why do you live where the Port Authority does business?

If you persist in the practice there's nothing I can do to help you.

[ilovesarah2012]

But Ann Coulter still loves him.

[muawiyah]

US Mail ~ it's paid for with a user fee called POSTAGE.

BTW, USPS also overpays the retirement fund which is in the hands of the US government. Currently the government has $100,000,000,000 of rate payers' money in its hot little hands and they are loaning it out to their cronies in the international banking racket.

[Beaten Valve]

So EZ Pass will now be $9.50 coming into NYC?

[Rockitz]

It’s still an amazingly cheap way into the city from Jersey.

[Raycpa]

If it cost more to leave NJ and work or shop in NY then isn’t that a good thing for NJ economy if it makes working and shopping in NJ more attractive?