Albany

Summer is prime driving season, but New Yorkers who pay attention to their toll bills may be confused.

If you are taking the Massachusetts Turnpike to Boston, for instance, you'll pay more on your E-ZPass tag than your neighbors in the Bay State.

And if you want to hit the beach in Middletown, R.I., crossing the Newport Bridge will cost you $4, while Rhode Island residents pay 83 cents on their E-ZPass transponders.

Thanks to what could be described as a vehicular border war, E-ZPass users who roam the Northeast will find a variety of fees depending on which state they are traveling through and where they register their transponder.

The states appear to be stuck in neutral when it comes to resolving the dispute.

“We’re hearing from drivers and business owners,” said Robert Sinclair Jr. of AAA New York, one of several regional AAA affiliates across the state.

If New York motorists are angry at having to pay more than New Jersey residents when they go to the Garden State or more than Massachusetts residents in the Bay State, so are visitors to the Empire State because they too pay more when they cross the state line.

This summer the AAA Northeast umbrella group wrote to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, to see if the DOT could step in and mediate the interstate E-ZPass imbroglio.

“As millions of Americans prepare to hit the road this summer, this issue becomes critically important,” AAA Northeast President and CEO Mark Shaw wrote.

He hasn’t heard back.

As it now stands, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine now charge higher E-ZPass rates for out-of-state motorists, with rates in some instances as much as four times more.

One exception is Pennsylvania, where E-ZPass rates are the same no matter which state a motorist and transponder are from.

The Keystone State, however, tends to have high tolls in general, according to a recent study that focused on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

E-Z Pass tolls are almost always less than cash payments because all of the states are trying to fully automate their tolling systems.Shaw said motorists could theoretically purchase E-ZPass transponders for all of the states they are traveling through but that would be “impractical and burdensome.’’

It would also require putting the unused transponders in special sealed bags, lest they be charged on multiple E-ZPass accounts.

Still, that’s what the state Thruway Authority suggested people do if they are intent on getting the lower tolls in each state that they visit.

“Anyone, regardless of their state of residency, can apply for a New York E-ZPass tag to receive discounts on our system and we encourage all motorists to sign-up to be eligible,” Thruway Authority spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said.

Thruway Authority board members in November voted to remove what had been a discount for non-New York accounts which was particularly popular among New Jersey residents who commute to the Empire State.

But New Jersey as far back as 2011 had eliminated out-of-state discounts for its tolls.

Massachusetts cut its New York discounts shortly before the Thruway officials did the same.

AAA earlier this year also sent a letter to the Thruway Authority urging it to reconsider.

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“There is no justification for such a practice except to take advantage of a driver who may be from ‘out of state,’" AAA Legislative Chairman John Corlett wrote to Thruway Authority Director Bill Finch in January.

He hasn’t heard back.