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Bridge Tolls

The High Cost of Free Riders

12:01 PM EDT on October 30, 2009

Whenever the prospect of funding our transit system with bridge tolls or congestion pricing arises, you can count on a hue and cry from aggrieved motorists about subsidizing other people's commutes. But if the bridges stay free, who's really paying for somebody else's ride? Today's Times story about the last phase of Manhattan Bridge reconstruction is a welcome reminder that the city's bridges are already costly:

All told, about $830 million has been spent repairing the bridge, whichsuffered from neglect during the city’s financial crisis in the 1970s,said Brian Gill, the chief engineer of Manhattan Bridge reconstructionfor the Transportation Department.

As long as there's no price on these bridges, we all pay for those free rides.

Ben Fried
Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.

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