Senator Golden to Mta: Consider Toll Discount Plan for E-Z Pass Users of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

Brooklyn – State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-C-I, Brooklyn) today is calling on the Metropolitan Transit Authority to consider an MTA discount plan that reduces tolls, similar to the Port Authority’s recent announcement, for enrolled E-Z Pass users with non-commercial plates to $4.75 per trip, for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, after three trips in one calendar month.

In a letter sent to Metropolitan Transit Authority Chairman and CEO Joseph Lhota, Senator Golden wrote, “The residents of Brooklyn, and in particular southern Brooklyn, realistically have only one way to enter Staten Island and/or parts of New Jersey for employment, visiting relatives, and use of vacation properties. Our families and businesses simply cannot afford to shoulder the burdens forced on them by the tolls at the Verrazano Narrows Bridge”.

Senator Golden also referenced in his letter that throughout his tenure as a member of the State Senate, he was regularly worked to advance policies that would assist the financial conditions of the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Senator Golden continued, “It is my hope that as the MTA moves in a positive fiscal direction, that part of the savings will be allocated to support this discount plan. On a very regular basis, residents of my district complain about the rising cost of the toll to cross the Verrazano Bridge and see no end in sight to this pattern of increase. This plan makes is practical and Brooklynites, with limited options for their travel needs, deserve it.”