Grand Island, NY (WBEN) State Senator Chris Jacobs says he's learned Canadian drivers are not being charged when they use the Grand Island tolls. He says until that changes, no one should be charged the one dollar to use the tolls.
Jacobs added that thousands of Canadians pass over the bridges on a regular basis, meaning millions of dollars are lost due to this oversight.
“In a way, U.S. drivers are subsidizing the roads for Canadians,” said Jacobs. “This needs to stop.”
Jacobs called for the suspension of tolls on the Grand Island bridges in a letter to Matthew Driscoll, the Executive Director of the New York State Thruway Authority.
The Thruway Authority responds with this statement:
“All motorists traveling through a Thruway tolling facility are expected to pay their tolls. Canadian citizens, similar to other customers who do not have E-ZPass, have multiple options to pay their tolls. They can view their trip on the tollsbymailny.com website and create an account to pay for future trips as well. They can pay per trip online at tollsbymailny.com; call our toll free number and pay over the phone or they can mail in their payment. The Authority is working on an agreement to send toll bills to Ontario and Quebec motorists. Once agreements are executed, we can mail toll bills to these customers. If customers do not pay their toll bills, the Authority will mail violation notices.”