Dave Swarts on Thruway Tolls:

This goes back to August 2003:

Tolls within the commuting range of Buffalo amount to nothing short of a commuter tax on residents-except the money gets sent to Albany, rather than staying in the local community. Commuters must pay coming in from the northeastern boundaries of the county at the Williamsville toll barrier. Commuters pay coming from the south and west at the Lackawanna barrier. Commuters living on Grand Island pay. And what amounts to an admission fee to travel into the City of Buffalo, commuters pay at the Ogden St and the Black Rock barriers Tolls not only add an average of $100 to $200 per year to travel for Buffalo-area commuters, but the time factor must be considered as well. Motorists are frustrated by the delay in getting to work caused by the existence of tolls. Customers at our four Auto Bureaus regularly complain about the inequity of having to pay tolls compared with other urban areas in the State. No doubt the Thruway Authority will point to the E-Z pass as the solution to this problem, but the lines still exist and confusion runs rampant when lines are crowded and vehicles enter the wrong lane. The removal of the correct change lanes, forcing motorists into pre-paying E-Z passes for the privilege of using the Thruway, was ill conceived and has only exacerbated the frustration felt by daily commuters. Highway safety is another issue adversely impacted by the presence of tolls. Because the County Clerk's office issues drivers' licenses, effectively putting people on the roadways, I am deeply concerned about safety on our highways. The existence of tolls has artificially raised the number of trucks and motor vehicles on secondary roads, like Rt. 20 and Rt. 5 in Hamburg and Evans, as well as the inbound Rt. 33. Preliminary reports show that the I-190 has a higher number of vehicles traveling out of the city because the tolls at the Ogden St. barrier are only collected on the inbound traffic."