Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a deal today that would allow residents and some commercial drivers to pay less to cross the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
The plan calls for E-Z Pass drivers who live on Staten Island to only pay $ 5.50 when taking the bridge onto Staten Island with no minimum required for the discount.
Staten Island residents currently pay $ 6.36 for one or two trips a month, and $ 6 for three or more.
Non-residents with E-Z Pass will still have to pay $ 10.66.
“Anybody living on this island would welcome that,” said one Staten Island resident.
“I go to Brooklyn then I head out to Jersey, it’s another $ 13 in New Jersey then to Staten Island. So it’s always getting to me. So hopefully now that it’s cutting back two dollars it will help me out,” said another Staten Island resident.
Commercial drivers with a New York state E-Z Pass will get a 20 percent discount once they make 10 or more trips over the bridge per month.
Bob Cutrona says his contracting business Project One pays $ 26,000 to $ 28,000 a year in tolls. He and dozens of other small to medium businesses lobbied their state legislators in Albany for a year to get the toll break and help all Staten Islanders out.
“It’s about building an economic base on Staten Island. We cannot compete with people in Brooklyn and Queens or in New Jersey because of the high cost of our transportation, traffic, trucks and so on,” Cutrona noted.
Meanwhile, Governor Cuomo is up for re-election this year, putting the proposed toll break into perspective for some residents.
“Politics huh? That’s why. That’s okay. Savings, still. A dollar’s a dollar,” said one Staten Island driver.
“I’d vote for him. Thanks for lowering the tolls,” said another Staten Island driver.
Under the plan, the state and Metropolitan Transportation Authority will each contribute $ 7 million to make the discounts possible.
The MTA board will have to approve the toll break at its next meeting later this month.
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