How's this for a deal -- $12 for a ticket to New York City! But there's a catch: the fare is for drivers entering Gotham via bridges and tunnels from New Jersey, and it's the wallet-busting toll that replaced the $8 fare over the weekend despite a last-ditch attempt by the Automobile Association of America (AAA) to block it.
The new toll affects two tunnels and four bridges: Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel, George Washington Bridge, Goethals Bridge, Bayonne Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing.
There are ways to lessen the sticker shock -- E-ZPass holders pay less, for instance, though their costs also shot upward -- but some Jersey motorists seem to object more to one of the reasons for the hike: to raise money to rebuild the World Trade Center site. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey manages the bridges and tunnels, and it owns the land on which Manhattan office complex destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks sits.
Port Authority officials, who proposed the toll hike in August, said the money also will help pay for maintenance of tunnels, bridges and other transportation infrastructure. The agency, which also runs four major airports in the region, said more money also is needed to help cover security costs that have risen as a result of the 2001 attacks.
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