Digital toll dodges cost NY drivers big time 

Avoiding tolls on bridges and tunnels, by whatever illegal method, is an old scam. Once upon a time, the dishonest just sped through manned booths. When automation arrived, the play was throwing slugs or fake tokens into collection baskets to get barrier arms to rise for free. Now authorities charge motorists by electronically “reading” license plates, so dodgy drivers have adapted and widened their rip-off practices.

According to data reported by Newsday, drivers hid, obstructed, or otherwise faked the recording of plates to sneak out of paying 224,000 tolls per month last year at Metropolitan Transportation Authority crossings such as the Midtown Tunnel and the Whitestone and Throgs Neck bridges. Lost public revenue on that front rose sharply from pre-pandemic levels to $46 million in 2022.

At bridges and tunnels of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, such as the George Washington Bridge and Lincoln Tunnel, the number of toll payments that the system couldn’t bill doubled over a five-year period to 191,368 on average per month through November 2023.

In Suffolk County, 19,763 red-light violations couldn’t be billed last year due to obstructed plates, a reported increase of 8% from 2019.

GROWING CYNICISM

That’s a statistical slice of a frustrating story. The MTA says 6% of tolls owed in 2022 were evaded. But the problem goes beyond lost revenue. It’s yet another example of more than just a few people getting over on a majority who follow the rules. Add these toll-dodgers to the same vexing list as tax cheats, turnstile jumpers and shoplifters who push cost burdens onto a generally honest public. The bottom-line result is cynicism and a loss of trust in everyday transactions.

For that reason, it brought a bit of satisfaction to see the owner of a BMW with an illegal license plate that disappears — with a push-button command from the driver’s seat — busted last week for avoiding toll payments 292 times at the George Washington Bridge and other crossings. The take of this unidentified thief-of-the-month was said to be $19,767, including nearly $5,200 in tolls and thousands of dollars in outstanding fees.

Don’t expect this bust to have a huge impact by itself. Over the years, others have been caught in a smattering of cases. If anything, it tells us a wider enforcement net needs to be cast.

It’s not a state secret that concealing license plates doesn't require a James Bond-style gadget like the one used in the New Jersey BMW case. More often, a semitransparent license plate cover consisting of a cheap sheet of dark-tinted vinyl does the trick. Sometimes, the coloring is scraped off the raised lettering and numbers on a license plate to hinder reading it. Then there are the strategically placed bike racks, bent plates, and counterfeit “temporary” paper tags from Texas, Georgia and New Jersey.

The transportation agencies may do well to try some outside-the-box thinking. Could bar-code technology affixed to cars — which admittedly might also be subject to defacement — provide more effective and reliable tolling? Police sometimes carry out patrols with electronic license-plate readers, perhaps auguring more frequent use of the devices.

INCREASE PENALTIES

Strengthening criminal penalties for fake plates might go against the over-enforcement and over-incarceration mindset. But Gov. Kathy Hochul might do well to push for it in the State Legislature. Covering license plates, like tinting front-seat windows, is a hindrance to law enforcement and even a danger to cops when bigger infractions might be at stake, such as criminals fleeing after armed robberies or gang violence.

The rise of this form of digital scam on the road parallels the nearly accepted practice of turnstile jumping on the subway, and fare evasion on the Long Island Rail Road, which has long had a quaint honors system that allows passengers to just receive an invoice for later mail-in payments. MTA officials are deploying so-called gate guards at 30 stations, which is a start. In transit systems outside New York, there are already turnstiles with tall Plexiglas panels that prevent evasion. The region needs to catch up.

Another focus of study is emergency exit doors, which often become evasive entrance doors where passengers stream in for free. It’s so prevalent that it's no wonder a group of tourists might assume the practice is legal — and innocently join the parade of people entering through the exits while farepayers feel like chumps. A workable proof-of-payment system is needed.

Fare-beating and toll-cheating need to be fought with equivalent and proportional determination. The fact that tolls and fares have risen is no excuse. 

Shrugging it off as some politicians do at a time when violent gun crimes are a bigger concern misses the point, which is about following the rules and respecting the social order. Time is wasting for action on a problem that is more important to people than it may look from an examination of lost-revenue totals.