The MTA has used the arguments presented below to fend off the concept of high-speed tolls since at least 1998. We consider each theme in turn:

MTA argument #1: The MTA claims barrier gates promote safety "because they force customers to slow down and look before proceeding" into the merge beyond the toll plaza. Further, the MTA points out that employees must cross toll lanes to get to their assignments."

The Reality: While barrier gates may reduce accidents at old-style toll plazas, non-stop tolls eliminate these dangerous structures altogether, along with their hazardous merges. At many plazas, ten or more toll lanes converge into three or four highway lanes. This creates dangerous bottlenecks at the precise moment drivers are accelerating to get back to speed. Non-stop tolls reduce the total number of toll lanes and merges considerably.

Tollbooths are also dangerous because they create speed differentials both before and after toll plazas. John Leonard, the Deputy Director of Georgia’s CruiseCard program, explains that "accidents tend to increase significantly when you have a speed differential … if you’ve got a queue and someone’s not attentive [he or she will] whack the person in front." He concludes that "The best way to [improve safety] … is to eliminate the tollbooth altogether." Since non-stop lanes opened in 1999 at the Biddle’s Corner toll plaza on Route 1 in Delaware, there has not been a single crash.

Regarding workers, fewer of them are needed to run and maintain high-speed facilities, which are generally constructed with pedestrian bridges or tunnels. In contrast, the MTA forces employees to cut across toll lanes in order to assist drivers stuck behind barrier gates. Congestion at MTA facilities also appears to require the hiring and deployment of workers to direct traffic entering toll lanes.

MTA argument #2: The MTA says adopting non-stop tolls could mean "an unconscionable loss of more than $12 million in toll revenues that would support mass transit and our operation."

The Reality: All non-stop toll plans include ways to deal effectively with violators or people who mistakenly get in the wrong lane. Typically, overhead cameras record the license plates of non-paying vehicles, and a fine is mailed. This allows agencies to more than recoup any lost revenue. "You don’t lose revenue, because you get it back through the violation fine," commented Mike Williams, a representative of the Delaware DOT.

In addition, the violation rates themselves are quite low. On Georgia’s Route 400 Extension, a mere 0.2 percent of vehicles in the CruiseCard lanes – or 5,200 out of 3 million – failed to pay in January 2004. The figure includes transponder malfunctions. In our area, the NY State Thruway reports a one percent violation rate in E-ZPass lanes .

MTA argument #3: The MTA says non-stop tolls are "generally a feature of new roads conceived and built from scratch with non-stop tolling in mind."

The Reality: Other agencies in the New York area are adapting existing roads and highways to accommodate roll-through and high-speed E-ZPass to mature infrastructure. The Port Authority is adding these facilities to its bridges, while the Thruway Authority retrofitted the Tappan Zee Bridge.

Toll authorities in other parts of the country have also generally retrofitted existing roads and bridges. The Dallas North Tollway has a roll-through policy (allowing speeds up to 30 mph) in lanes of similar width to the MTA’s. Similarly, cash toll lanes on I-294, I-88, and I-90 in Illinois were retrofitted to permit roll-through tolls at up to 30 mph. In California, the Bay Area Toll Authority added dedicated Fast Track lanes (allowing speeds up to 20 mph) to all seven Bay Bridges from 2001 to 2003.

MTA argument #4: The MTA claims "travel conditions at our plazas have never been better" and sees no reason to make the effort to improve the status quo.

The Reality: While E-ZPass has improved conditions at MTA bridges and tunnels, the agency is unjustifiably complacent. These crossings still experience some of the worst congestion in the country. A recent report by the American Highway Users Alliance states, "[A] very large share of delay in the New York area is related to bridge and tunnel crossings into Manhattan, most of which are toll facilities" and asserts that if toll plazas had been included in a ranking of America’s twenty-five worst bottlenecks, then "several river crossings into Manhattan would no doubt be included."

Considering New York’s bridges and tunnels will experience worse traffic in the future, the MTA should look for solutions now. Open-road tolls are the easiest, most efficient way to relieve the bottlenecks represented by 20th Century toll facilities.

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