SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — The New Jersey Turnpike Authority on Tuesday voted to approve the $2.7 billion budget for next year, which includes a 3% increase in tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. The increases take effect Jan. 1.
An annual 3% increase was approved back in 2020. A spokesman for the Turnpike Authority says this means it will cost drivers an extra 10 cents on a Turnpike trip from Exit 4 in Camden to Exit 7A in Trenton, and tolls at main plazas on the Garden State Parkway will increase by 8 cents.
“It really adds up, especially if you’re a daily commuter,” says Steve Carrellas with the New Jersey chapter of the National Motorists Association. But his main complaint about the increase is the lack of transparency in how the percentage was calculated.
“The turnpike authority has been very secretive about that.”
Some agencies, like the South Jersey Transportation Authority, use inflation or other economic indicators to justify toll increases, but the Turnpike commission is operating with a secret formula, he says.
“It doesn’t tell us how they calculated a percent. So all they’re going to do every year is raise it by 3% and claim that’s what their indexing says. And nobody in the public really knows for sure.”
Carrellas says annual toll increases will likely become a campaign issue for the many candidates who have announced their intentions to run for governor next year.