No more free passes for gov't vehicles

NEW YORK, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The free ride on New York's bridges and through its tunnels is over for city and state workers on official business, a local transit board voted Wednesday.

In a close vote, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority decided to start charging city and state agencies for E-ZPass tags on vehicles used for official business, The New York Times reported. Ending the practice of letting government vehicles skip paying bridge and tunnel tolls is expected to pour $10 million a year into the authority's coffers.

Representatives of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg voted against the measure with one saying the "ill will" it will engender will likely outweigh the revenue gain.

The authority acted after a recent barrage of negative publicity about current and former board members getting the free passes. The board kept the privilege for sitting members while on official business.

"I want to be able to say to all the hard-working people that use our system that the M.T.A. is not giving a free ride to anyone," board Member Doreen A. Frasca said before the vote. "This is a very important message in these troubled times."