Oh, whoopie frikin do….. 7, only 7? Like this will have a big effect on toll revenue. This practice started in 1965 in union negotiations, there are thousands of these out there. This will do nothing and is simply pandering. Is it a start? Only time will tell. My god there are many, many other places to go to in this bloated budget and the corrupt system.
This does not impress me in the least bit. Do something real, something substantial…. Or our hands tied and we are at the behest of the NYSTA…. Read the noGItolls website for some more real waste.
No more free ride for Thruway big shots
Under pressure, seven lose lifetime passes
Thruway Authority commissioners who set toll rates are now paying tolls like the rest of the traveling public.
Authority executives, pressed by State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, canceled free E-ZPasses on Wednesday for seven current and former members of their governing board.
The Buffalo News reported in November that board members enjoyed lifetime E-ZPasses that allowed them to travel the New York State Thruway for free. The authority was considering a major toll increase, since approved, and critics noted that the EZPasses exempted board members from paying the toll increases they impose on the public.
Commissioners are far from the only ones enjoying free passes. The News also reported that 4,193 current and retired employees of the authority— including those who work for a subsidiary that operates the Erie Canal system and state troopers who police the Thruway — also receive lifetime passes.
Travel by these pass users accounted for 1.78 million trips — about two-thirds of 1 percent of Thruway travel last year.
The disclosure prompted criticism from many quarters, and two lawmakers — Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, and State Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane— sponsored a bill that would require such pass holders to pay when traveling for personal reasons. Passes to current and former employees were bargained in labor contracts, and the bill has not been adopted.
Cuomo’s office weighed in this week, telling the authority that the passes for commissioners violate a previously issued legal opinion regarding compensation for board members and the state law that established the authority. Cuomo’s legal rationale: Commissioners are supposed to serve without compensation, and the EZPasses amount to compensation.
Authority Executive Director Michael Fleischer and his senior staff acted later in the day to take away the passes.
“We decided to revoke the nonrevenue tags based on the attorney general’s statement,” said authority spokeswoman Sarah Kampf.
Four of five current board members — Jeffrey Williams, who represents Western New York on the board, Erin Crotty, Kevin Plunkett and E. Virgil Conway — had passes. Retired board members with passes included former chairmen Howard Steinberg, Peter Tufo and Lou Tompson.
Kampf said that while Conway, Tufo and Tompson had passes, they have not used them in quite some time.
The Thruway Authority’s action contrasts with that of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates subways, commuter trains, buses, tunnels and bridges in New York City. MTA leaders thus far have refused to give up their travel passes.
The New York Daily News has reported that about 60 past and present MTA board members — some of them millionaires — have free lifetime passes. Former Chairman Peter S. Kalikow reportedly has eight passes. Three dead board members also continue to receive passes, The Daily News reported.
jheaney@buffnews.com
