Increase takes its toll

HARRIMAN-The state Thruway Authority Board voted Monday to increase cash tolls by 25 percent for passenger cars beginning May 15. The Authority said new tolls haven't yet been calculated, but comparisons of cash prices using the Thruway's toll calculator (http://www.thruway.state.ny.us) include the following estimates: • A drive from the Harriman exit near New York City to Albany that now costs $3.20 will cost 80 cents more. • A drive from Harriman to downtown Buffalo that costs $11.65 will cost about $2.91 more. • A drive from Albany to the Syracuse exit used for the State Fair that costs $4.40 would cost $1.10 more. • A drive from the Rochester-Corning exit to Harriman that costs $9.85 will cost $2.46 more. • A drive from Albany to downtown Buffalo that costs $8.45 will cost $2.11 more. Commercial truck tolls would increase 28 percent to 35 percent, but estimates are more complicated because of the different classifications of trucks, discounts offered for using E-ZPass and for a volume discount. But the cash price for a four-axle tractor trailer in a trip from Harriman to the Pennsylvania line in western New York that now costs $47.75 would increase $11.93. A roundtrip once a week for 50 weeks in a year would cost the trucker $1,671 more in tolls paid in cash, or about $1,337 after the most common discounts.