p1 tolls Verrazano Bridge

A federal appeals court in New York has ruled that fare discounts offered to Staten Island residents crossing the Verrazano Bridge are constitutional. (Staten Island Advance/Steve Zaffarano)

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A federal appeals court in New York has ruled that fare discounts offered to Staten Island residents crossing the Verrazano Bridge are constitutional.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Wednesday rejected claims by several New Jersey residents and others that the Triborough Birdge and Tunnell Authority's (TBTA) resident discounts are unfair.

In the case Janes v. Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Auth. (the legal name for MTA Bridges and Tunnels), the plaintiffs, lead by Riva Janes and Bruce Schwartz, argued that local discounts imposed on MTA crossings like the Verrazano Bridge, Broad Channel Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and the Cross Bay Veteran Parkway violate their rights to travel or violate the dormant Commerce Clause.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced a residential toll discount on the Verrazano Bridge in February that cut resident E-ZPass fares by nearly a third and lowered commercial E-ZPass tolls by 20 percent.

Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid Island) and State Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) championed the deal. Under the MTA's current toll hike proposals, the discount program would keep the resident E-ZPass fare at $5.75 for the only direct vehicle connection to the rest of New York City.

A three-judge panel ruled after plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenged an October 2013 ruling by a lower-court judge.

The lower-court judge had said the tolls contribute to a smoothly functioning mass transit system. The constitutional protection of toll discounts has been discussed since 2009, when then-Rep. Michael McMahon introduced a bill to protect the discounts, called the Residential and Commuter Toll Fairness Act of 2009.