Traffic Impacts of an Electronic Payment Biased Toll Pricing Initiative on Toll Bridges and Tunnels in New York City

In this paper, the traffic impacts of a toll increase which sought to maximize the share of electronic tolling (E-ZPass) on bridges and tunnels in New York City were investigated. The toll increase took effect on December 30, 2010 and was effective on all nine river crossings – seven bridges and two tunnels – managed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). E-ZPass tolls were increased only marginally as compared to cash tolls, which were increased rather steeply. Changes in E-ZPass usage rates and in overall vehicular traffic on the river crossings, a year after the toll increase were analyzed through statistical tests. The direct price elasticities of traffic demand a year after the toll increase were also estimated. The results indicate that, increases in E-ZPass usage rates were overwhelmingly statistically significant, a year after the toll increase. Also, as expected, minus a few exceptions, most facilities saw statistically significant reductions in average daily vehicular crossings, a year after the toll increase. Finally, direct price elasticity results indicate that although reductions in demand from the year before the toll increase were largely statistically significant at most facilities as noted above, when compared to the rate of increase in the price of tolls, traffic demand at most facilities was mostly inelastic.