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Metro


MTA DEMANDS NYC MARATHON COUGH UP $750K TOLL FOR CROSSING VERRAZZANO BRIDGE IN
LATEST CONGESTION PRICING SCHEME

By Nolan Hicks and Emily Crane

Published April 3, 2024
Updated April 3, 2024, 12:10 p.m. ET

The MTA’s latest congestion pricing scheme: charge runners for crossing the
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

The transit agency is waging war against the organizers of the New York City
Marathon — demanding $750,000 to make up for toll revenue lost during the iconic
race.

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And if New York Road Runners doesn’t pay up, the agency is threatening to
restrict use of the bridge, potentially reducing the number of runners who can
compete in the wildly popular event each November, the New York Times reported
Wednesday, citing internal memos.

During hardball negotiations, the MTA initially said runners — who start the
marathon on Staten Island — would only be allowed to use the darker lower deck
of the bridge for the 26.2-mile race if organizers don’t pay up.

Officials backtracked slightly, though, in recent weeks by saying marathon
organizers could have their pick of the upper or lower level for the race — but
not both, according to the memos.

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The marathon, which is expected to draw 50,000 entrants for this year’s race,
has used both decks of the Verrazzano Bridge for the past 36 years.

3
The MTA is demanding New York City Marathon organizers cough up roughly $750,000
a year to make up for toll revenue lost from shuttering Staten Island’s
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. REUTERS

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“New Yorkers love Marathon Sunday, but taxpayers cannot be expected to subsidize
a wealthy non-government organization like the New York Road Runners to the tune
of $750,000,” the president of MTA Bridges and Tunnels, Catherine Sheridan, said
in a statement.

“The MTA is prepared to continue working toward a final agreement with the NYRR,
provided it leads, over time, to full reimbursement for the lost revenue.”

New York Road Runners — which reported a total income of $100.2 million last
fiscal year — hasn’t yet caved to the MTA’s demands and, instead, is asking Gov.
Kathy Hochul to step in.

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They’ve argued they’ll have to likely restrict the number of entries going
forward if runners are banned from using both levels of the bridge.

Otherwise, the race’s duration will have to be extended — meaning the bridge and
local streets will be shuttered for longer to allow all runners to complete the
race, according to the memos.

3
The MTA said runners would have to pick the upper or lower level of the
Verrazzano Bridge if they won’t pay. Gregory P. Mango

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In a February letter, CEO Rob Simmelkjaer asked Hochul to force the MTA to
“negotiate in good faith” – arguing the non-profit has already agreed to boost
its payments to the MTA to cover the bridge’s closure to $200,000 for this
year’s race.

“We have agreed to increase payments to the MTA in the form of both direct
payments and the purchase of advertising on subways and buses. The MTA has made
few concessions in these negotiations, however, and continues to insist on 100%
reimbursement of lost toll revenue,” Simmelkjaer wrote.  

In 2021, New York Road Runners started paying some personal costs tied to
shutting down the bridge for the marathon. For last year’s race, the group said
it forked over $150,000.

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“We recognize the budgetary challenges that the state and MTA are currently
facing, but the NYC Marathon is part of the solution to these budget issues, not
part of the problem,” Simmelkjaer wrote to Hochul.

He went on to argue the non-profit has an “an extraordinary impact on the state
and city economy — bringing in more than one million spectators and 50,000
runners to New York City’s streets each year.”

Separately, the MTA has also demanded Bike New York — an organization that uses
the bridge’s bottom level during its annual Five Boro Bike Tour each May — to
cough up, too.

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3
The marathon is expected to draw 50,000 runners. Getty Images

It wasn’t immediately clear how much Bike New York has been ordered to pay, but
the transit agency threatened to ban the group from using the bridge if it
doesn’t agree, the Times reported.

News of the negotiations emerged a week after the MTA’s board approved the
controversial congestion pricing plan to slap drivers with a $15 toll to enter
Midtown Manhattan below 60th Street.

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What do you think? Post a comment.

The MTA has long argued the increased tolls will generate billions for
much-needed transit and railroad upgrades for the cash-strapped system.

The tolls on the Verrazzano Bridge, too, subsidize the Big Apple’s subway and
bus system.


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