|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By: Serach Nissim
New York State governor Kathy Hochul proposed legislation to treat evaders of the new $15 congestion pricing toll like criminals. As reported by the NY Post, Gov. Hochul included a “toll fraud” proposal in her $233 billion state budget plan, which will make it a Class A misdemeanor toll theft to avoid the controversial toll to enter Midtown Manhattan below 60th street. Police will be able to charge drivers with the misdemeanor, defined as fraudulently trying to be exempted, get a credit or discount from tolls. More severe scammers, who evade paying tolls with a total value of over $1,000, could get slapped with a Class E felony, and for evading tolls valued at over $3000 it would be a Class D felony. Misdemeanors could result in a sentence of up to a year in prison.
If the proposed bill is enacted by the legislature, it would bring in about $35 million to $45 million in revenue for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The new toll, which could begin as early as May, will go towards funding the MTA’s “transportation operations and infrastructure that is currently being lost due to theft of public services.” The proposed penalties would take effect 90 days after being enacted as law, the Post reported.
Gov. Hochul also recommends setting a fine of $100 to $500 on drivers passing through license plate readers with intentionally obscured license plates, done in order to avoid paying tolls on New York’s other tolls on bridges and tunnels. The bill also empowers cops to confiscate material that covers license plates and to increase the minimum fine in such cases to $250. Per the Post, the bill also calls to make it illegal to sell “vanish plates” and other fake license plates which cover over real plates. The proposed clampdown would rake in an extra $35 million to $55 million for the MTA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and take effect one year after becoming law.
Hochul is backing the MTA’s push to renew penalties towards fare evaders. The MTA proposed that first time offenders should be let off with a warning, while the fines would be increase for repeat offenders. The proposed bill against toll beaters serves as proof that Gov. Hochul is totally committed to the congestion pricing program, even amid the criticism. The MTA has already started installing license readers on the FDR Drive and West Side Highway as part of the congestion toll program.
The MTA thanked the governor for her support. “The MTA has been using every tool available to deter and apprehend toll scofflaws. However, technology can get ahead of what is permissible under the law,” said John McCarthy, the MTA’s chief of policy and external affairs. “We commend Governor Hochul for proposing significant additional tools that can be used to control uncollectible and untraceable tolls due to obstructed or fake license plates.”
“We’re continuing to move full speed ahead on transformative infrastructure projects that will change the way New Yorkers get around. And we’re fighting for safety at the same time, so New Yorkers get home safely no matter how they choose to get around,” said Gov. Hochul.
