Turnpike, GSP tolls increasing on New Year's Day

NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- If your commute takes you along two of the country's busiest toll roads, you're in for a rude awakening New Year's Day.

Tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway are going up, and for some drivers, that could mean a difference of several hundred dollars next year.

Commuters Eyewitness News talked to really feel like they're getting squeezed.

Tolls are going up on the Turnpike and the Parkway, and they recently went up at the Hudson River crossings.

Even NJ Transit bus and train fares are up.

"It's disgusting, they're not offering anything and they're just taking more money," driver Jeff Tanner said.

More money is right, tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway will go up by as much as 50 percent in 2012.

"The gas goes up and the tolls go up and it's just more and more," driver Janet Wojtowicz said.

The toll hikes were approved in 2008 as a two-step process.

"I don't like it but its part of life and the condition on the roads demands that they improve them," driver Paul Mitchell said.

To illustrate how much a cash-paying driver at peak hours would pay, imagine driving from Exit 4 on the Turnpike North to exit 14C and then taking the Holland Tunnel into Lower Manhattan.

In January 2011, tolls for the trip would cost you $14.70. In 2012, it'll cost you $22.25. That's more than a 50 percent increase. And that's before you pay for gas.

"I'm going to think twice before driving here again," driver Omar Ali said. "I'm not going to drive here again, next time I'll fly."

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