Drivers deploying tricks to avoid Thruway Authority tolls cause massive revenue loss

The New York State Thruway Authority has lost $631,000 in revenue this year from motorists hiding or altering their plates from tolling cameras, a 55% surge from 2023.

The total losses as of mid-November had already surpassed 2023’s $407,000 total, according to Thruway Authority statistics. 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 tallied so far this year is up from 175,000 in 2023 and more than double 2022’s 72,000.

Four years after pivoting to cashless tolling along its 570 highway miles, the Thruway Authority is contending with drivers deploying new and evolving methods to trick their way out of paying tolls.

Photos of the license plates of scheming motorists snapped by overhead cameras offer a glimpse of their tactics. Motorcyclists — one sporting a distinctive tattoo — reach back and cover their plate with a hand. Others alter numbers or letters on their plate with markers or black electrical tape. Some have used fanny packs to cover their plate. Another affixed a sticker of a skull to obscure letters and numbers.

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The Thruway Authority says the surge in lost revenue doesn’t mean an increase in malicious obstruction. They attribute the $224,000 increase in revenue lost between 2023 and this year to toll hikes that went into effect in January 2024.

And they say such transactions are a tiny fraction, .05%, of the tolls processed this year, roughly the same sliver of 2023’s total. The Thruway has collected $887 million in tolls so far this year, up from $825.5 million through all of last year, they add.

“We’re working on a number of different enforcement mechanisms,” Thruway Authority spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said. “Holding that number steady is important. It’s important that it has not increased. We’re going to continue to pursue those individuals who try to evade paying their tolls.”

$46M in losses at MTA bridges, tunnels

The Thruway Authority is not alone among tolling agencies that have witnessed a post-pandemic surge in folks trying to get out of paying fares and tolls.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority lost more than $700 million from fare and toll evasion on city subways, Metro-North Railroad, the Long Island Rail Road and bridges and tunnels in 2022, according to a report by a blue-ribbon panel in 2023.

It’s a significant hit for an agency that relies on fares and tolls for a quarter of its budget, about $4.6 billion every year. And opponents of the MTA’s congestion pricing plan have in recent months seized on the loss totals in a bid to derail a $9 toll on drivers who enter Manhattan’s central business district come January.

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“The MTA loses over $700 million annually to fare evasion,” Rockland County Executive Ed Day said Monday. “Before asking drivers to shoulder more costs, the MTA must be held accountable for managing its budget effectively.”

The MTA lost $46 million to toll evasion at its seven bridges and two tunnels in 2022. Totals for 2024 have not been made publicly available.

In February, MTA officials underscored the depth of the problem by displaying the various methods drivers are using to avoid tolls. Among them are roll-down shutters and license plates that flip over to reveal a new plate, like something out of a James Bond movie.

Using drones to catch toll cheats

To combat the problem from the air, the MTA has been deploying drones to try to catch repeat offenders, an MTA official revealed at a committee meeting Monday.

The drones function as aerial license plate readers that alert law enforcement patrol officers when persistent violators — drivers with suspended motor vehicle registrations — pass through a toll, an MTA spokeswoman said. License plate reader systems are installed on patrol cars, overhead gantries and mobile trailers.

The Thruway Authority does not use drones to catch repeat offenders.

The state has estimated that between $35 million and $55 million is lost to toll theft each year at the Thruway Authority, the MTA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the George Washington Bridge.

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The Hochul Administration is pursuing legislation that would prohibit the sale of so-called vanish plates or license covers. And the state wants to make it a crime of theft of services to use 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’s 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’s included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at tzambito@lohud.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Unpaid tolls on NY Thruway lead to massive revenue loss

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