The study, undertaken in 1994 by the Caliper Corporation (under contract to the Port Authority), found that one- and two-dollar toll increases during the morning peak commute period would substantially reduce overall Hudson River crossing congestion. The PA kept the analysis under wraps for over a year while it was repeatedly asked to include incentive tolling scenarios in its study of the Staten Island-NJ Goethals Bridge corridor.

Press coverage was more sympathetic to incentive tolling than in past instances, primarily because the findings were derived from motorist responses to a Port Authority survey. In effect, many drivers told the Port Authority that "time is money," and that reduced congestion was worth the price of a toll premium. Television interviews with cross-Hudson commuters yesterday seemed to confirm the findings. The Star Ledger's front-page Thursday article noted European and Asian examples of incentive tolling that reduce delays, and cited the National Research Council's two-volume 1994 report (Curbing Gridlock) concluding that peak period toll premiums were the most effective way to cut chronic congestion.

In response Port Authority officials ducked for cover. In doing so, they missed an opportunity to expand the terms of discussion on transportation policy. PA leaders said Governors Whitman and Pataki had forbidden toll increases. More disappointingly, they sought to discredit their own study. Without providing any details or substantiation, Port Authority deputy executive director John Haley called the Caliper work "flawed." Haley could have acknowledged incentive tolling's political difficulties while still allowing that it would give traffic managers the ability to better manage the roadway system and possibly add to revenue available to regional transit services. Caliper's survey and the press' reaction may also indicate that road pricing need not be as politically poisonous as agencies seem to believe. For instance, focus groups conducted by NJ DOT last year found that the public would support a gas tax increase if it was clearly linked to transportation system improvements.

The Tri-State Campaign and Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic have pressed for several years for the Port Authority to include analysis of incentive tolling options in reviews of options for the I-278 Goethals Bridge crossing of the Arthur Kill. The Port Authority says traffic growth makes a $500 million second bridge necessary, but the Campaign contends the PA has failed to analyze plausible combinations of better transit service, incentive tolling and other transportation demand management measures.

Governors Whitman and Pataki have given the Port Authority approval to begin using the E-ZPass toll collection system, which would make variable time of day tolls technically easy to implement, and could acclimate the public to variable tolls more easily than traditional cash systems. The NY Times reported that in its Triborough Bridge debut this week, E-Z Pass "lived up to its name" and that its market penetration with Verrazano Narrows Bridge commuters was now over 40%. The PA says the George Washington and Staten Island bridges will be equipped with E-ZPass by next July, with the tunnels to follow in October.