Updated, 4:52 p.m. | Just as Social Security has been described as the third rail of federal politics, imposing tolls on the East River bridges — an idea that has again been revived as the Bloomberg administration seeks to plug a growing budget deficit — is the third rail of New York City politics. A ride through The Times’s archives shows that the debate over bridge tolls has
gone on for decades, going back further than Social Security itself.
On numerous occasions, politicians have tried to reinstitute tolls on the four bridges — the Brooklyn (completed in 1883), Williamsburg (completed in 1903) and Manhattan and Queensboro (both completed in 1909). After all, the Brooklyn Bridge charged horse-drawn carriages a toll from the time it opened. But by the Depression, the tolls were a thing of the past.
The history shows that officials have failed again and again to revive tolls on the four bridges. (Other major crossings, including the bridges run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, already charge tolls.)
Efforts to Raise Money: 1930s-1950s
In 1933, at the height of the Depression, the New York City comptroller, Charles W. Berry, proposed that a 10-cent toll be imposed on the four bridges. Commuters in Queens and Brooklyn vowed to fight the measure, as did business and civic groups. Mayor John P. O’Brien agreed to a plan to charge a 25-cent toll on out-of-town vehicles crossing the bridges. Organized interests, from budget groups to truckers’ associations, expressed outrage and questioned the legality of the proposal. The plan was ultimately scuttled by Mr. O’Brien’s successor, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, who took office in 1934 on a Fusion ticket.
Fast forward 20 years. In 1953, Citizens Union, an advocacy group formed in 1897 to fight Tammany Hall and promote honest government, urged Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri and members of the Board of Estimate to impose tolls on the four bridges as part of a plan to finance the city’s growing budget and help pay for more police officers. The plan went nowhere.
That did not stop Citizens Union from reviving the idea of a 25-cent toll on the East River bridges in 1959, under the new mayor, Robert F. Wagner, as the city faced the prospect of cutting back “essential services” if it did not come up with new sources of revenue. Mr. Wagner, perhaps taking a cue from Mr. La Guardia, rejected the plan.
On occasion, the bridge tolls would be considered multiple times under the same mayor.
In 1966, Mr. Wagner’s successor, Mayor John V. Lindsay, floated the idea of a 25-cent toll on the bridges — drawing the immediate ire of the Auto Club and other associations for drivers. A few months later, the administration backed off, saying it had no plans to impose tolls on the bridges.
The Clean Air Act: 1970s and 1980s
In 1970, Mr. Lindsay ordered a study of the feasibility of East River bridge tolls, prompting criticism from his political rival, Comptroller Abraham D. Beame, who called the idea “an undue burden upon the motorist.” Despite the backing of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, most members of the Board of Estimate came out against the idea and, anyway, the State Senate refused to give the board permission to impose the tolls — even though city officials warned that it would mean a higher subway fare. (At the time, it cost 30 cents to take the subway.)
But by the mid-1970s, the state government got behind the idea that the tolls could be a means of combating air pollution. In 1975, however, the idea was once again beaten back, and Albany dropped its demand that the city consider the tolls.
Then the federal Environmental Protection Agency got in the act. In 1975, the agency issued formal orders to require the city and state to establish tolls by mid-1977 on all bridges across the East and Harlem Rivers. But the federal Department of Transportation disagreed, saying that the city could not charge tolls on several bridges — including the Williamsburg and the westbound lane of the Manhattan — because they were built as free bridges with federal funds.
On Jan. 18, 1977, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the federal transportation control plan, finding that the city must begin charging tolls on the bridges. A federal judge set a deadline of Aug. 31, 1978, for the tolls to begin.
The Beame administration resisted, arguing that tolls would cause major traffic jams, would not reduce pollution and would not cause drivers to abandon their cars for mass-transit facilities. Mr. Beame moved to comply with the E.P.A. order by severely restricting parking in Midtown, a move that drew angry opposition from Gov. Hugh L. Carey, among others.
The impasse was resolved on Aug. 18, 1977, when New York City and the federal government reached an accord on the air pollution order. The parking restrictions and bridge tolls were scuttled, while the city pledged to improve mass transit and bolster enforcement of traffic rules. “It’s a dead issue,” Mr. Beame said of the bridge tolls. (A short while later, the Supreme Court rejected the city’s continuing effort to overturn the air pollution order.)
The Koch Era and Beyond: 1980s-1990s
In September 1981, the remaining sticking point — whether the state was making appropriate mass transit improvements to discourage the use of automobiles in New York City — was resolved when the Reagan administration found the city to be in compliance with the Clean Air Act, overruling an earlier action by the Carter administration. Mayor Edward I. Koch said the decision meant that there was no need to charge tolls on the East River crossings.
But the city’s compliance remained fragile. In 1986, the city’s transportation commissioner warned that the city risked falling out of compliance if it did not take “drastic” measures to curtail traffic, including, possibly, charging tolls on the East River bridges. Similarly, in 1987, a commission charged with examining New York City’s future in the 21st century also recommended such tolls.
The next mayor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was elected in 1993, largely avoided the issue of tolls, although the inception of E-ZPass in 1997 made it much easier, technologically, to impose them.
But by the late 1980s, the very mention of tolling the four bridges had become politically toxic. In 1989, both major-party candidates for mayor, David N. Dinkins, the Democrat, and Mr. Giuliani, the Republican, agreed that they were opposed to tolls and did not favor attempts to restrict car traffic in Midtown.
But by 1991, the plan was back on the table, as the Dinkins administration struggled to contain a growing deficit.
After the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, groups like Transportation Alternatives suggested tolls as a way to prevent gridlock as the cleanup of Lower Manhattan began, and the idea began to gain steam as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg assumed office heading into 2002.
The Bloomberg Era: 2002 to the Present
A month after taking office in 2002, Mr. Bloomberg floated the idea of charging tolls on the four bridges, and predictably enough, the cycle began all over again. Residents in Queens and Brooklyn expressed anger at the idea.
By 2003, Mr. Bloomberg had largely backed away from the toll proposal, though he said, ”If it turns out to be a good idea at some point in time, and if it’s enactable, then we should certainly consider it.”
(The mayor had floated a related idea, turning over the bridges to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. That, too, went nowhere.)
After Mr. Bloomberg won a resounding re-election victory in 2005, talk of tolls was heard again — this time in the context of congestion pricing. Mr. Bloomberg’s current transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, had worked on the bridge-toll proposal during the Dinkins administration, and she became the point person as Mr. Bloomberg furiously lobbied Albany to endorse a plan that would charge drivers $8 to enter much of Manhattan during peak hours.
Tolls were considered by a commission that examined congestion pricing, but the final proposal applied to almost anyone driving south of 60th Street during peak hours, regardless of whether they drove in from New Jersey, from uptown, or from Brooklyn or Queens. Critics said the plan amounted to charging tolls. In April 2008, the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, effectively killed the congestion pricing plan by refusing to bring the measure to a vote.
Now, a commission to study M.T.A. finances, appointed by Gov. David A. Paterson and led by a former authority chairman, Richard Ravitch, is said to again be considering the issue of tolls on the four bridges. The commission’s findings would be advisory, not binding, but if they swayed Mr. Paterson and Mr. Bloomberg, they could have a significant impact.
Update | Asked on Tuesday about the prospect of tolling the bridges, Mr. Bloomberg replied:
You know, I’m going to wait and see what the Ravitch commission recommends and then, keep in mind, it is really up to the State Legislature and I think what we’ve got to see is what are they willing to do and then pick out of the options that they’re willing to do what is best for the city. Having something that they’re not going to do, I think we’ve been there and done that.
History does not suggest the tolls have much of a chance, but who knows?