When the new year starts, New Jersey drivers heading into Manhattan may pay more for tolls, PATH riders may see higher fares, and treats at Newark airport may cost 15% more.
At the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey board’s Thursday meeting, officials unveiled a $9.4 billion budget proposal for 2025 that includes all those proposed hikes. The cost increases are “necessary to address those negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on revenues and operating costs” and for further investment in the bi-state agency’s capital agenda, Libby McCarthy, its chief financial officer, said Thursday.
These proposals come on the heels of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s revival of the congestion pricing toll for motorists entering Manhattan below 60th Street, a move that will cost motorists heading into Manhattan $9, on top of tolls they pay using Port Authority crossings.
Most drivers using E-ZPass now pay $15.38 during peak hours to use the Port Authority’s bridges and tunnels. The proposal calls for a 25-cent increase starting in January, followed by a quarter increase annually between 2026 and 2028. That would be in addition to the automatic inflation-based toll hikes the board approved in 2019, which amount to 46 cents in 2025.
PATH fares would also go up by 25 cents — making each ride $3 — effective Jan. 12, 2025. That would mark the first fare increase since October 2014.
The Port Authority oversees the George Washington Bridge, Lincoln and Holland tunnels, Bayonne Bridge, Goethals Bridge, and Outerbridge Crossing.
Four public hearings are scheduled on the PATH fare hike and toll increase plan, two in New York and two in New Jersey. New Jersey’s hearings will take place Dec. 3 at the Hasbrouck Heights Meadowlands Hilton at 7 p.m. and Dec. 5 at 2 Montgomery St., 3rd floor, in Jersey City at 9 a.m.
All meetings will have a virtual option. The online public comment period remains open until Dec. 9.
A spokesman for Gov. Phil Murphy declined to comment on the proposed toll and PATH fare hikes. Murphy has criticized the congestion pricing plan as “a way to take money from the pockets of New Jersey residents.”
In the last year, tolls increased by 3% on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, and tolls went up on bridges between New Jersey and Philadelphia in September.
The Port Authority is also proposing to increase the toll-by-mail fee from $17.63 to $22.38 for cars. That’s a move the agency hopes will bring more customers to E-ZPass and away from paying tolls by mail, which accounts for 15% of transactions, McCarthy said.
The agency’s budget would include one cost-saving measure for PATH riders with disabilities, a 50% discount that would begin in summer 2025, McCarthy said.
The higher costs at Newark airport are intended to pay for a higher minimum wage for some of the airport’s lowest-paid workers. The Port Authority approved allowing airport concessionaires to raise prices to 15% more than local street prices (an increase from the current cap of 10%).
The Port Authority will vote on the increased minimum wage at its Dec. 12 meeting — the $19 hourly wage would rise by 75 cents in January, July 2025, and January 2026 — where it is also scheduled to approve its budget.
— Sophie Nieto-Munoz
This article was published by the New Jersey Monitor and is republished here with permission. Click here to view the original.
