MANHATTAN — The American Automobile Association is asking the federal government to put the brakes on the huge toll hikes slated for the Port Authority's Hudson River crossings, the Associated Press reported.
The increase, set to take effect at 3 a.m. Sunday, will increase tolls 50 percent from $8 to $12 for cash users on the George Washington Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Goethals Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing. That price is expected to be bumped up to $15 by 2015.
E-ZPass users will fare slightly better, paying an extra $1.50 for a total of $9.50 during peak hours, the report said. That would eventually rise to $12.50 by 2015.
Peak hours are also being extended from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends, according to NY1.
Under the plan, fares for PATH trains will also increase to $2 from $1.75 on Sunday morning, the AP said.
AAA, which may sue, said in its argument to the U.S. Department of Transportation that the increases are “unprecedented and unlawful," infringing on a law that stipulates that tolls have to be reasonable.
The organization also takes issue with the fact that some of the money will be used to finance the World Trade Center site.
“We think that increasing tolls to pay for cost overruns at the World Trade Center...will impede interstate commerce and establish a new and ill-conceived policy of diverting toll revenues to local real estate development projects,” CBS quoted AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair as saying.
The Port Authority did not comment on the issue.
