Deadbeat drivers racked up $5.1 billion in unpaid MTA tolls and violations over four years – a number likely sent skyrocketing since “cashless” systems replaced the old payment booths, records reveal.
The flailing Metropolitan Transportation Authority estimated total uncollected “toll violations” at more than $1.4 billion in 2024 alone and $3.7 billion combined from 2021 through 2023, according to a financial chart included in a request for proposals submitted to potential debt collectors.
And the annual loss in toll revenues could eventually surpass $2 billion in upcoming years when including non-payment of tolls for the new $9 congestion pricing toll to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street, the document projected.
“Instead of hitting people with a new and very unfair toll, the MTA should have focused its efforts to get deadbeats to pay existing tolls all along,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn), who is urging President Trump to kill congestion pricing…