The New York State Thruway Authority has lost $631,000 in revenue this year as motorists hid or changed their license plates from toll cameras, a 55% increase from 2023.
According to Thruway Authority statistics, as of mid-November, total losses had already exceeded the total of $407,000 in 2023. Over the past three years, the Thruway Authority has lost more than $1.2 million in revenue from such transactions.
The 182,000 “malicious obstruction” transactions counted so far this year are up from 175,000 in 2023 and more than double the 72,000 in 2022.
Four years after switching to cashless tolling along its 570 miles of highway, the Thruway Authority is struggling with drivers using new and evolving methods to cheat their way out of paying tolls.
Photos of devious motorists’ license plates, taken by overhead cameras, offer a glimpse into their tactics. Motorcyclists – one of whom sports a distinctive tattoo – reach back and cover their sign with one hand. Others change numbers or letters on their boards with markers or black electrical tape. Some have used fanny packs to cover their plates. Another placed a sticker of a skull to make letters and numbers invisible.
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The Thruway Authority says the increase in lost revenue does not indicate an increase in malicious obstruction. They attribute the $224,000 increase in revenues between 2023 and this year to toll increases that went into effect in January 2024.
And they say such transactions make up just a small fraction, 0.05%, of the tolls processed this year, about the same share of the 2023 total. The Thruway has collected $887 million in tolls so far this year, compared with $825.5 million last year, they add.
“We are working on a number of different enforcement mechanisms,” Thruway Authority spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said. “It is important to keep that number stable. It is important that it has not increased. We continue to pursue those individuals who attempt to avoid paying their tolls.”
$46 million in losses at MTA bridges and tunnels
The Thruway Authority isn’t alone among toll agencies in witnessing a post-pandemic surge of people trying to get out of paying fares and tolls.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority lost more than $700 million in 2022 due to fare and toll evasion on city subways, Metro-North Railroad, the Long Island Rail Road and bridges and tunnels, according to a 2023 blue ribbon panel report.
It’s a major blow to a travel agency that relies on fares and tolls for a quarter of its budget, about $4.6 billion a year. And opponents of the MTA’s congestion pricing plan have leveraged the aggregate losses in recent months to try to derail a $9 toll for motorists entering Manhattan’s central business district in January.
A congestion pricing scanner is shown above the north end of Broadway, between West 60th and 61st St. in Manhattan, Thursday, November 2, 2023
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“The MTA loses more than $700 million annually to fare evasion,” Rockland County Executive Ed Day said Monday. “Before drivers are asked to shoulder more costs, the MTA must be held accountable for effectively managing its budget.”
The MTA lost $46 million in 2022 due to toll evasion at its seven bridges and two tunnels. The 2024 totals have not been made public.
In February, MTA officials underscored the severity of the problem by outlining the various methods drivers use to avoid tolls. Below that are shutters and license plates that flip over to reveal a new license plate, like something out of a James Bond movie.
Cathy Sheridan, the president of Bridges and Tunnels for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, testifies at a February 2024 MTA board meeting about the increase in fraud among drivers trying to avoid tolls.
Using drones to catch toll fraud
To combat the problem from the air, the MTA has deployed drones to catch repeat offenders, an MTA official revealed during a committee meeting Monday.
The drones function as license plate readers that alert law enforcement officers when persistent violators — drivers with suspended license registrations — pass a toll, an MTA spokeswoman said. License plate reader systems are installed on patrol cars, overhead walkways and mobile trailers.
The Thruway Authority does not use drones to catch repeat offenders.
The state estimates that between $35 million and $55 million is lost annually to toll theft at the Thruway Authority, the MTA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the George Washington Bridge.
Suspensions: NY suspends registrations of serial Thruway toll evaders. What you need to know
The Hochul administration is pursuing legislation that would ban the sale of so-called disappearing plates or license plate covers. And the state wants to make it a crime of theft of services to avail a toll facility without paying.
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA Today Network’s New York State team. He has won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackenzak . He can be reached at tzambito@lohud.com.
This article originally appeared in Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Unpaid tolls on NY Thruway lead to massive revenue loss
