Heavily tolled residents and commercial drivers on Staten Island who use New York City's Verrazano-Narrows Bridge will get a break, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.
Under the plan, which Cuomo announced in Staten Island on Feb. 6, New York State and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will each earmark $7 million to cover the cost of lost toll money.
The Verrazano, which opened in 1964 with a 50-cent toll, carries Interstate 278 and connects Staten Island with the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. The toll is one-way, with drivers paying entering Staten Island.
"It was complicated. It should have been done sooner. I was surprised that it was done at all," Cuomo said during a press conference on Staten Island.
"The bridge is the main artery to Staten Island and you deserve special consideration," he said.
Interstate commerce legalities surrounding the commercial driver discount complicated the deal.
Staten Island E-ZPass drivers will pay $5.50 per trip over the Verrazano, while all commercial New York state E-ZPass holders will be eligible for a 20% discount once they make more than 10 trips per month over the bridge.
Residents now pay a discounted toll of $6 or $6.36, varying by frequency of usage.
The non-resident toll would remain at $15, or $10.66 for cars with E-ZPass.
The $14 million agreement needs budgetary approval in Albany. In addition, the The board of the MTA, a state-appointed agency that operates several New York City bridges and tunnels and the subway system, will vote on the measure at its monthly meeting on Feb. 26.
Officials must also recalibrate the E-ZPass electronic tolling system.
Brooklyn lawmakers, meanwhile, want the same discount. "Perhaps someone forgot that the bridge has two sides," Councilman Vincent Gentile of Bay Ridge said in a statement the same day. "This is a tale of two boroughs."
The MTA, with roughly $33 billion of debt, is one of the largest issuers in the municipal marketplace. Moody's Investors Service rates the MTA's primary credit, transportation revenue bonds, A2, while Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's rate them A.
