At the beginning of January, the New York transport authority carried out a vast operation to catch up with motorists who did not pay their tolls.
On January 11, 2023, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority de New York (the MTA, or the authority of transport of New York) carried out a blow of fist operation on the payment of the tolls. She chased the vehicles of several townspeople who weren’t paying tolls due when crossing bridges and tunnels.
In total, 21 vehicles were stopped, accumulating together more than 400,000 euros in debt linked to the non-payment of these tolls! An astronomical sum, which is close to an average debt of 19,000 euros for each of these drivers. Several of them had their cars seized. One of the offenders even accumulated a debt with the MTA of 57,000 euros!
A punch operation organized by the New York transport authority
The MTA is best known for its management business New York public transport, such as the metro and the bus, than for its supervision of tolls. However, the city imposes rights of toll to cross its bridges and tunnels, which vary mainly depending on the vehicle. Except that the way in which the tolls were designed obviously allows you to pass without paying.
Some motorists then take advantage of it, not imagining that they can one day be caught up. However, what most New York motorists do not know is that the MTA has installed cameras allowing automatically read the license plates of vehicles passing through these tolls. Rather sophisticated, this system also makes it possible to recognize the plates of repeat owners. Once the car is on one of the bridges or in one of the tunnels in New York, the MTA is notified immediately.
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57,000 euros in debt for unpaid tolls
Among the motorists caught on January 11 was a repeat offender. In total, he owed 57,000 euros to the MTA. He had indeed violated by more than 500 times theobligation to pay tolls. According to him, he had never been made aware that he was required to repay such a sum. Of course, it was a lie. The agent who caught him searched his glove compartment and found several reminders from the MTA!
Concretely, the agents of the transport authority did not ask the offenders to pay the debts on the spot. Much worse still, they have seized their vehicle and accompanied the owners home or to the nearest metro station. They will be able to get them back once they have refunded the MTA. Each year, the authority estimates that it loses 50 million euros due to these violations.
