At a January candidate forum sponsored by the Village Independent Democrats, two New York City mayoral hopefuls said abolishing tolls at MTA bridges would improve city traffic conditions. Village residents and elected leaders have long advocated returning two-way toll payment to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Since a steep one-way Verrazano toll was implemented in 1985, truck and other traffic has become hellish on the free Brooklyn-NJ route across lower Manhattan via the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges and the Holland Tunnel.

Bronx Borough President Ferdinand Ferrer told listeners that tolls should be removed entirely from the Verrazano Bridge, according to The Villager. City Council Speaker Peter Vallone upped the ante, stating, "I don't think New Yorkers should be charged for traveling anywhere on the roads."

Complete removal of Verrazano tolls may or may not have the desired effect in lower Manhattan. It would without question open another major funding gap at the MTA, which is struggling to finance its 2000-2004 capital program. Eliminating all MTA tolls would without question lead to big increases in urban motoring, wipe out capital and maintenance funding for MTA bridges and tunnels and send mass transit finances reeling. Radical toll reduction in NYC could also give trucks such a competitive advantage that freight railroads would be unlikely to ever develop a serious foothold in the east-of-Hudson freight market.

MTA bridge and tunnel tolls gross over $900 million per year, more than one-third of which is distributed to MTA's transit agencies.

City Comptroller Alan Hevesi offered a more considered response to traffic issues by endorsing the cross-Harbor rail freight tunnel proposal which would provide an alternative to trucks, removing them from the streets for good.

Opening a statewide tour to kick off his campaign for Governor of New Jersey, Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler called for abolition of tolls on the Garden State Parkway last week. The Asbury Park Press reports that Schundler said eliminating tolls will reduce Parkway crashes and ease air pollution and wear and tear on cars. However, such a move is likely to do the opposite.

The absence of the $185 million the NJ Highway Authority receives in toll revenues each year will force the Parkway to compete for resources within NJ DOT's budget. Pavement and bridge deficiencies along the Parkway could well worsen under such a scenario, causing more wear on cars and potentially increasing road hazards.

Air quality and traffic speeds would also suffer. The elimination of tolls could increase congestion by drawing cars now making local trips on Routes 1, 9, and 35 to the Parkway. In fact, the only currently untolled portion of the Parkway from the Raritan River to the Union toll plaza attracts so many extra trips that it was expanded to ten lanes and is often still backed up.

A Schundler supporter told the Asbury Park Press that what aggravates her is "sitting at the tolls." Although a small group of anti-toll activists have received attention in the wake of Schundler's candidacy, the source of the widespread frustration with Parkway conditions is not the tolls themselves, but the antiquated toll plazas drivers wait behind to pay them. Rather than eradicating tolls, a practical leader would push to raze the booths.

Schundler's main rival in the Republican primary in June, Acting Governor and State Senate President Donald DiFrancesco, could do that by supporting Assembly bill A35 that would force the Highway Authority to replace old booths with non-stop electronic toll readers that drivers can pass through at normal highway speeds.