New York State and the City’s administration are collaborating to be ready by June, when the MTA’s congestion toll will take effect. On Saturday, lawmakers approved new legislation to hit hard drivers who obscure or modify their license plates in order to avoid paying tolls.
New Yorkers who cover their plates with glass or other material,s or scratch off parts of the numbers to prevent cameras from reading them properly will have to pay fines ranging from $100 to a maximum of $500. If a driver gets caught more than three times in a five-year period, state officials can suspend their vehicle registration.
“We have seen a huge proliferation of license plate covers, all in an attempt to evade accountability. I wanted to make sure that people were not evading what everyone else is unfortunately having to pay, but I also wanted to make sure that we didn’t have a flawed system that continues to burden New Yorkers,” Bronx Assemblymember Kenny Burgos, who participated in negotiations over the bill, said to The Gothamist. Burgos condemned many police officers who were found guilty of covering their plates.
According to the MTA, toll evasion wastes around 50 million dollars. In a report, the Citizens Budget Commission showed that the New York Department of Transportation lost more than 100 million dollars last year to this crime.
