Emergency Responders Must Pay Tolls On NY Thruway

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hatzolah1Ambulance or fire vehicles responding to an emergency on the New York Thruway must now pay tolls on the way to the incident.

Thruway Department of Maintenance and Operations Deputy Director H. McCarthy Gipson has written to emergency service providers who respond to Thruway incidents that a new law requires the Authority to issue refunds for tolls incurred on the superhighway by ambulance or fire vehicles in emergency operations.

Ulster County Fire Coordinator Charles Muntz said it could slow down responses.

“If the fire department in their jurisdiction has the Thruway running through the jurisdiction and they respond out there for severe motor vehicle accident or hazmat incident and they call a neighboring department that does not cover the Thruway, they are going to be expected, the way I read it, to pay also on the return,” he said.

Gipson wrote the emergency service providers that “to assist with more efficient incident response times and enhanced safety,” those responders should use E-ZPass only toll lanes when available. “In instances when an E-ZPass only lane is not available, the vehicle should proceed through a staffed lane and pick up a toll ticket or pay the toll collector the required toll and ask for a cash receipt.”

“The Thruway Authority does not charge emergency vehicles,” according to Thruway spokesman R.W.Groneman, who issued a statement Tuesday afternoon. “In a rare instance where a toll is inadvertently charged, this law establishes a reimbursement procedure.”

{MidHudsonNews/Matzav.com Newscenter}


10 COMMENTS

  1. Is this for real how lives will chas v’shalom be lost while in line for tickets or paying tolls —what could they have been thinking?

  2. This is preposterous, they can run red lights, and stop signs, go faster than the speed limit, park illegally, but must pay tolls.
    Until when will the MTA stop taking advantage of us?
    Most (if not all) of the toll bridges and tunnels were meant to have a toll until the construction fees were paid off. Now the MTA is just being greedy.

  3. Anything to shake down the Jews for more money. And who in the end pays? The shlubs like us who donate to Hatzolah. What chutzpah!

  4. @yankiv The words Thruway Aurhority probably should of been your first hint that this has nothing to do with the MTA. And I hate to break it to you, but what you pay in gas taxes and tolls comes nowhere near the amount it costs the city to maintain 2,027 bridges, 4 major tunnels, 6,300 miles of paved road, 1.3 million street signs, 300,000 streetlights and 12,000 signalized intersections. Statistically speaking you probably don’t even pay enough income tax to cover your share of the city’s expenses. So I ask you, until when will you stop taking advantage of rich taxpayers.

  5. normally I would not comment on any story as to not add to the complete leitzunis and stupidity that occur in the comment section. however, I can not hold back this time as the comment about the MTA is so out of touch that it was painful to read. as much as the MTA is run horribly and all who use the NYC transit system suffer financially because of its mismanagement, the MTA has nothing to do with the thruway. In addition the end of the article said that a different spokesman said that emergency vehicles do not get charged. I am unsure what the makana is, but to blame the MTA just shows how little you thought before you typed. similar to all other comments. and yes I know people are gonna comment on my comment because nobody can ever hear anything they just want to add their two cents. I will remind you that I agree that the MTA is horrifically managed (read- unions), I am just commenting about jurisdiction.

  6. #2: Ur right about the MTA charging tolls for bridges that are already paid off. That money goes to subsidize mass transit and the airports and to pay for stuff like the “Freedom Tower”.

    However the Thruway is a separate agency so that is not relevant to this story. It is stupid that an ambulance on an emergency call should have to stop to pay a toll and then file for reimbursement of the 75 cents or whatever.

  7. I think that this article is making the point that in the rare case of an emergency vehicle being charged a refund would be issued.
    “those responders should use E-ZPass only toll lanes when available. In instances when an E-ZPass only lane is not available, the vehicle should proceed through a staffed lane and pick up a toll ticket or pay the toll collector the required toll and ask for a cash receipt….In a rare instance where a toll is inadvertently charged, this law establishes a reimbursement procedure.””

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