§ 538. Tolls, rules and regulations. 1. The authority shall have power
to make rules and regulations for the preservation and use of the
bridges and for the payment of tolls. Such rules and regulations shall
be subject to the approval of the commissioner. Violations of such rules
shall constitute an offense punishable by a fine of not more than one
hundred dollars; provided, however, that violators of such rules
relating to traffic or pedestrian use of a bridge or highway within the
jurisdiction of the authority, shall be apprehended and prosecuted in
the same manner as provided for the apprehension and prosecution of
violators of the vehicle and traffic law who commit violations thereof
upon the public highways. For the purpose of conferring jurisdiction
upon courts and judicial officers generally, violations of those rules
of the authority which are defined as offenses shall nevertheless be
deemed misdemeanors for the sole purpose of making applicable all
procedural provisions of law relating to misdemeanors. The rates of
tolls shall be determined by the authority subject to the approval of
the commissioner, and to the provisions and limitations of any agreement
with the bondholders or noteholders. Nothing herein shall give the
commissioner any power or authority to require any act or thing which
will constitute a breach of any agreement with the bondholders or
noteholders.

2. The authority shall continue to maintain and collect tolls on the
bridges and shall, subject to the terms of any agreement, now
outstanding or hereafter made, with bondholders or note holders or with
the commissioner, apply tolls and other revenues from the operation of
the bridges to the following charges in the order named:

(a) For payment of the cost of maintenance and operation of the
bridges;

(b) For payment of installments of principal and of interest maturing
upon bonds of the authority, if any;

(c) For payments from time to time in such amounts as the authority
shall deem necessary to be contributed to a city pursuant to subdivision
ten-b of section five hundred twenty-eight of this chapter.

3. None of the bridges constructed prior to January first, nineteen
hundred fifty-eight, shall be free from tolls until all of such bridges
are free therefrom, subject to such agreements with bondholders and
noteholders as may be made as hereinafter provided, and the rates of
tolls on the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Mid-Hudson bridge, the
Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge, the Bear Mountain bridge, the Rip Van Winkle
bridge, and the Hamilton Fish Newburgh-Beacon bridge shall be uniform.