The tolls to travel on some of New Jersey’s busiest highways have now increased.
A 3% toll hike on the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City Expressway went into effect on Jan. 1. Tolls at Port Authority bridges and tunnels will increase in one week.
Tolls on the Parkway have increased 10 cents from $1.90 to $2 for those paying with cash. Drivers using E-ZPASS get a slight break, only having to pay $1.96.
The toll hike is part of an automatic toll indexing plan.
The toll hike for bridges and tunnels will go into effect on Jan. 8. The increase is $1 for typical cars, vans and pickup trucks.
Officials say that the reasons for the hikes include inflation and capital improvement projects.
But people who spoke to News 12 New Jersey say that they are fed up with having to pay more.
"They should budget it better because we are facing inflation challenges as well. We are paying extra gas prices, food prices so they need to look at the budget and perhaps bringing a different accounting firm to put them on a better budget,” says former New Jersey resident Cynthia Keveney.
It is also possible that New York City will implement congestion pricing, which could be tacked onto commuters’ drives into Manhattan. This would mean driver would pay $23 to enter areas below 60th Street.