Thursday is decision day for Port Authority commissioners to act on a proposal to increase tolls, fares and other fees at the bi-state agencies bridges and tunnels, airports and PATH transit system.

And public opinion is overwhelmingly against raising any of them, based on written comments made to the authority.

A public comment period closed on Sept. 13 and a summary of public comments, including 619 pages of written comments, was sent to commissioners on Sept. 19. A sign that the proposal could change is that details of the plan commissioners will vote on was left blank on copies of Thursday’s meeting agenda.

“The proposed resolutions remain under review following the close of the public comment period and final versions will be posted in advance of Thursday’s meeting", said Steve Coleman, a Port Authority spokesman, when asked.

A review of written comments found overwhelming opposition from bus commuters, drivers and Staten Island residents and few statements of support from labor, some business and planning groups.

That includes opposition by the National Motorists Association New Jersey and New York chapters. They specifically cited elimination of E-ZPass discounts for out-of-state drivers, ending carpool breaks and slicing discounts for New York and New Jersey E-ZPass customers as aspects that should be rolled back, they said.

“The point of our letter was to change the plan,” said Stephen G. Carrellas, NMA New Jersey Chapter policy director and letter author. “Even if they do something to meet us halfway, at least they gain PR points for listening to the public and mitigating some of the impacts the original proposal called for.”

The increases, proposed in late June, would raise the cash toll for the authority’s bridges and tunnels by $1, taking it from $15 to $16. It would cut back on certain E-ZPass toll discounts and reduce price breaks for riders who use PATH’s SmartLink card and add pick-up and drop off fees at airports for taxis and for-hire vehicles.

“I suppose it (a change) is possible, but based on history, it is unlikely,” said John Corlett, a spokesman for AAA Northeast clubs, which opposed this increase and sued unsuccessfully to overturn the authority’s 2011 toll increases.

After 2020, all tolls will be indexed for inflation, meaning they would automatically increase by $1 for cash tolls, when the Consumer Price Index reaches that mark. That would include a one-time reduction of the E-ZPass discount for passenger vehicles and motorcycles.

A 2008 toll proposal allows the Port Authority to administratively increase tolls when the CPI reaches $1 under current toll rates. Authority commissioners reaffirmed that decision in 2011 and in 2017. Officials estimate the CPI will reach that $1 mark next year, triggering a toll increase on Jan. 5, 2020.

Both the NMA and AAA opposed that provision to automatically increase tolls. NMA officials also criticized reduction in the off-peak E-Z Pass discount that would be equivalent to a 12% toll increase, which is “certainly not in line with inflation,” Carrellas said in the letter.

“Let’s stay on the side of motorists and commuters,” he said.

Private commuter bus companies also rallied their riders to write the Port Authority in late August, which they did in large numbers. Many bus commuters wrote they shouldn’t be penalized for doing “the right thing” by using mass transit.

A Bus Association of New Jersey representative told officials they should reduce tolls for commuter buses to avoid fare increases. The current plan would increase the peak hour toll for a bus by 135 % by 2026, compared to the passenger car rate, said Carol Katz, a representative who spoke at a July public hearing in Hasbrouck Heights.

“It’s our passengers who bear the brunt of increased costs to operate a bus, which often to translates to increased fares and other stresses on them,” Katz said. “Take a really close look at this proposal and think about how you can encourage the use of public transit by lowering bus tolls.”

Besides inflation, authority officials said the increase would help fund $4.8 billion worth of projects and work added to the authority’s 10-year capital plan. Additions include replacing the aging Newark Airport AirTrain monorail, funding the PATH improvement plan announced earlier, planning work for a new Terminal Two at Newark Airport and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Details weren’t provided on a final version of the amended capital plan on the board’s agenda.

Among the 619 pages of written comments sent to the Port Authority, Staten Islanders complained they were losing some of their multi-trip discounts and drivers questioned the loss of their E-ZPass discounts. Assemblyman Dan Benson, D-Middlesex, forwarded 118 letters sent to him from bus commuters opposing a toll hike.

Some of them echoed a concern raised by Carrellas and Corlett, that the majority of the added improvements in the capital plan to be funded by the proposed increases do not benefit tunnel and bridge users.

“The capital plan bears a closer look at where is money coming from and where it is being spent,” Corlett said. “Their finances are so opaque that after one dollar is collected at the toll booth, it is hard to see where it goes.”

A similar toll hike proposal was scaled back in 2011 from the original Aug. 5, 2011 proposal to immediately raise bridge and tunnel tolls by $4 for E-ZPass subscribers and $7 for cash customers, followed by another increase in 2014. Those proposed hikes amounted to a 75 percent increase for E-ZPass users and 112.5 percent hike for those paying cash.

That was lowered by then-Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

But six Port Authority sources told the Star-Ledger the process was scripted all the way through to release an inflated plan and then to roll it back, at the governors’ request, to make Christie and Cuomo look good.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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