9 New York Tolls That Add Up Faster Than Drivers Expect
Think a New York toll is just the number posted at the bridge?
That’s a rookie mistake that tourists commonly make.
These are the New York tolls that add up faster than drivers new to the state expect.
Note: This is general information, not financial or legal advice. Toll rates, fees, and violation penalties are subject to change.
1. Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
Staten Island residents enrolled in a rebate program from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) pay an effective $2.75 toll to cross the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the span connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn.
Everyone else pays $7.46 each way with E-ZPass, or $12.03 through Tolls by Mail for skipping it entirely.
Two neighbors can cross the same bridge on the same morning and land nearly $10 apart, based only on where they live and what’s mounted on their windshield.
2. George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge crosses the Hudson River into New Jersey, and its Port Authority toll price depends on the clock.
An E-ZPass driver pays $16.79 during peak hours, which the Port Authority sets as weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. and 4 to 8 p.m., plus weekends from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Off-peak, that same trip drops to $14.79.
That’s two dollars back.
Miss E-ZPass altogether, and the bill rises past $23.
3. Lincoln Tunnel
The Lincoln Tunnel runs the same Port Authority toll as the George Washington Bridge, $16.79 at peak with E-ZPass.
That’s one trip and two tolls.
Drivers heading into Manhattan through the tunnel also owe New York’s Congestion Relief Zone charge, $9 to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak hours.
A crossing credit trims that second charge for tunnel drivers, cutting it by up to $3.
Even with the credit, a single rush-hour trip into Midtown runs close to $23 once both tolls land.
The Math Behind Lincoln Tunnel’s Total Toll
The Lincoln Tunnel and New York’s Congestion Relief Zone charge two separate tolls, and a peak-hour driver heading into Manhattan owes both.
The tunnel costs $16.79 with E-ZPass.
The Congestion Relief Zone adds $9, minus a $3 crossing credit for tunnel drivers, for a net $6.
Together, that one trip into Midtown runs about $22.79, several dollars more than either toll alone suggests.
4. Congestion Relief Zone
The Congestion Relief Zone covers Manhattan south of and including 60th Street, and every vehicle entering it during peak hours owes $9, whether it crosses a bridge, a tunnel, or simply drives down from the Upper West Side.
Miss E-ZPass, and that toll runs roughly double through Tolls by Mail.
The $9 price won’t last.
The MTA already approved raising the toll to $12 in 2028 and $15 in 2031, so the $9 charge is the cheapest this toll is scheduled to get.
5. Henry Hudson Bridge
The Henry Hudson Bridge links Manhattan and the Bronx along the West Side, and its price swings hard depending on how a driver pays.
E-ZPass tolls it at $3.42.
Tolls by Mail bills the same crossing at $8.87, more than double.
Bronx residents skip both prices.
A rebate plan from the MTA refunds 100% of the E-ZPass toll for certified Bronx addresses, so the bridge that costs outsiders nearly $9 costs some locals nothing at all.
Psst! New York’s toll price depends on the bridge, the tunnel, or the highway, and on how a driver pays. Search the table below for the crossing on your own route.
6. New York State Thruway
The New York State Thruway runs cashless tolling across all 570 miles of highway, and the price gap between E-ZPass and paying by mail stacks up fast.
E-ZPass NY customers save up to 75% off the posted rate, while skipping it brings a flat $2 administrative surcharge on every Tolls by Mail statement, layered on top of a higher base charge.
Ignore the bill, and a $5 late fee follows, then a $50 violation fee per notice.
That adds up fast.
7. Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge
The Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge connects the Rockaways to the rest of Queens, charging $2.80 with E-ZPass versus $6.02 through Tolls by Mail, more than double for the same short crossing.
Queens and Rockaway residents enrolled in the MTA’s rebate plans can cross for free or for as little as $1.83, depending on their ZIP code.
8. Throgs Neck Bridge
The Throgs Neck Bridge charges the same base toll as several other MTA crossings, $7.46 with E-ZPass and $12.03 through Tolls by Mail.
The surprise sits elsewhere.
Anyone towing a trailer, a boat, or driving a vehicle with extra axles pays $4.88 more per axle with E-ZPass, or $5.06 more per axle by mail.
A weekend spent hauling a boat to Long Island Sound can turn one $7.46 crossing into a toll twice that size.
9. Mid-Hudson Bridge
The Mid-Hudson Bridge crosses the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie and Highland, and it carries the cheapest toll on this list at $1.65 with E-ZPass.
Tolls by Mail bumps that to $2.15.
Cheap doesn’t mean small.
The New York State Bridge Authority runs four other Hudson River crossings at the same rate, Bear Mountain, Newburgh-Beacon, Kingston-Rhinecliff, and Rip Van Winkle, and a driver touring the Hudson Valley who crosses two of them round trip can rack up $6 to $8 before lunch.
New York Is Cracking Down on Ghost Plates
New York’s toll authorities ramped up enforcement in 2026, cracking down on so-called ghost plates, the covered, bent, or altered license plates some drivers use to dodge toll cameras entirely.
State Police seized 214 vehicles and issued more than 1,100 tickets during four enforcement details across the Thruway system in the first half of the year.
Owners of 38 of those impounded vehicles owed nearly $103,000 in unpaid tolls and fees.
New York’s cashless tolling rules also let the Department of Motor Vehicles suspend a registration entirely after three unresolved violation notices within five years.
Peeling plates cause many of those tickets by accident, since a toll camera cannot read what has faded past recognition.
New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles replaces peeling plates for free, and a driver who checks theirs before a Thruway trip skips the blurry read, the mailed bill, and the risk of a suspended registration.
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