Brooklyn resident Ian Chichester thought he was helping a family member by co-registering a car. Instead, he found himself trapped in what he now calls a bureaucratic nightmare. $3,234 in unpaid tolls turned into a staggering $35,034 debt, thanks to late fees from New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
In New York, a standard MTA bridge or tunnel toll for a passenger vehicle runs roughly $6 to $10
Toll costs depend on location and payment method.
For most E-ZPass users, missing a few tolls might seem like a small oversight. But under the MTA’s fine structure, every unpaid crossing can trigger a $50 penalty after 60 days.
For drivers who miss dozens (or in Chichester’s case, hundreds) of tolls, those fines pile up faster than rush-hour traffic on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Chichester said he received a letter from the MTA on August 9, 2024, informing him that his unpaid tolls had ballooned to $35,034
When he called a week later, he said an MTA representative offered an 80% fee reduction, dropping the total to just over $10,000…