NY looks to suspend vehicle registrations of toll scofflaws

[Rhiannon12866]

The amount of uncollected tolls on New York's Henry Hudson Bridge increased an astounding 785 percent after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority eliminated cash toll lanes and began mailing bills to drivers without E-ZPass.

Figures provided by the MTA show that 1 in 3 motorists who receive a bill in the mail don't respond. From November 2012 through September 2013, those drivers owe the MTA $1.6 million, which the agency is still trying to collect.

State officials say that over the past five years, toll evaders statewide have failed to pay $150 million in tolls. But now, the state may dole out stiffer penalties...

Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed a plan to suspend the registration of drivers who are persistent toll dodgers. Some lawmakers agree and are working to make the proposal part of the annual state spending plan.

Read more at http://blog.gasbuddy.com/posts/NY-looks-to-suspend-vehicle-registrations-of-toll-scofflaws/1715-567898-2349.aspx#Sm11h1r3mu0lEYdt.99

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Ferchrissakes, it's a $5 toll and if you got that in the mail...

you'll probably toss it instead of writing a check and finding a stamp. Paying it on a website is probably even more time consuming.

This is because they didn't want to keep paying toll collectors and dealing with cash management. Raising tolls is always problematic, and the other alternative was to drop them completely. They did tear down the tollbooths on Long Island parkways when it cost more to collect the tolls than the tolls they collected.

[Historic NY]

2. It goes to say that people will skip

out on paying and the MTA decision to take out the human element a toll collector made things worse.

[hrmjustin]

3. I see that it has become a major problem in this state.

[Cooley Hurd]

4. Make it easy to pay online...

I recently fell behind on NYS taxes (each year, it's like $35 that I have to pay, as opposed to a refund). It was up to $70 and I got a nastygram from the Dept of Taxation & Finance demanding that I pay up. No problem, except that finding the actual website to pay up is like searching for Curly's Gold. I found it after 6 Google searches, and was happy to make it go away. JUST make it EASY, guys!