Tolls on cars traveling through the port’s bridges and tunnels will increase by $1.50 in September 2011, and then an additional 75 cents in December each year from 2012-2015, amounting to a total toll increase of $4.50 over five years, a decrease from the proposed $6 increase over years. PATH fares will increase by 25 cents from $1.75 to $2, down 75 cents from the original proposal, which will go toward car, signal and station modernizations from Newark to New York City.

Overall the CRE industry was supportive of the plan from the start, with over 60 labor, business, transportation and civic groups advocating for increased investment in the region’s infrastructure and transportation linkages, such as the New York Building Congress. “The Port Authority fare and toll policies encourage the movement of freight and commuters by incorporating innovative variable pricing on tunnel and bridge facilities,” said Richard T. Anderson, president of the NYBC, in public testimony during the port’s August 16^th public hearings. Other supporters included the Alliance for Downtown New York, the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy, the Association for a Better New York, the Regional Plan Association and the Professional Women In Construction, among many others. “This region must continue to ration scarce capacity, using mechanisms like variable pricing, to spread transportation demand over the entire 24-hour day,” Anderson added. “Given that no new bridge or tunnel to the region has been built in more than half a century, there is little choice.”

But others disagreed with the plan, arguing that the fare and toll hikes were asking too much of already strapped middle- and working-class New Yorkers and New Jerseyans. Public transit watchdog group the Tri-State Transportation Campaign acknowledged the importance of the port’s capital projects, but urged the agency to rethink the proposed PATH fare and rearrange the toll structure to deepen off-peak discounts, instead of placing the total burden on peak users.

“A substantially reduced PATH fare increase and a modified toll structure can save commuters money and still pay for necessary projects to keep our region moving while minimizing the increased burden Port Authority commuters are being asked to bear,” said Vincent Pellechhia, general counsel of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, during public testimony at an Aug. 16^th public hearing.

On the day before the vote, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released an audit that found that the Port Authority spent millions on overtime pay, calling for a re-examination of the agency’s budgeting and financial practices. The audit found that 71 of the top 300 pension earners in the state’s local retirement system are port employees, with salaries ranging from $125,612 to $196,768 per year. The port’s finances will be reviewed again by Cuomo and Christie in the coming weeks.