The New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) in mid-January will implement a 1% surcharge on commercial trucking company toll management service companies.
This change affects two providers: Bestpass by Fleetworthy and PrePass. The fee will affect all tolls across the entire E-ZPass network, including tolls in other states that are processed by New York. This fee is in addition to a previously approved toll increase in 2024 and a planned increase approved for 2027.
Fleetworthy has drafted a letter – signed by more than 100 Bestpass customers based or operating in New York – to Governor Kathy Hochul, urging her to take action and pause what they are calling a “backdoor toll hike.”
Fleetworthy CEO Tom Fogarty called the surcharge discriminatory and told CCJ that it disproportionately affects commercial carriers.
“The fact that it is applied to commercial carriers’ volumes, we think is discriminatory,” Fogarty said. “We think there are a number of areas that are unfair and not right, which is why we're pushing back hard on it.”
Ashley Simmons, vice president of policy and external affairs at PrePass Alliance, said in a statement to CCJ that PrePass is focused on a constructive resolution that preserves its partnership with NYSTA and improves toll-management outcomes for the carriers it serves.
“Our goal is straightforward: we want to find a collaborative path forward with NYSTA that leads to an outcome that works for all stakeholders. Our first responsibility is to our customers and our safety mission, and that guides how we evaluate any proposed changes,” her statement reads. “NYSTA has introduced several financial and operational modifications in their new Toll Management Service Provider agreement that would have significant impacts on the Alliance and, more importantly, on the trucking industry. We believe those impacts are unsustainable and would disproportionately affect carriers operating in states participating in the E-ZPass tolling network.”
While it targets commercial carriers, Fogarty said the additional charge will have a broader negative impact, including increased costs for truckers, small businesses and consumers.
“Ultimately, we're all talking about affordability and inflation and impact on consumers," Fogarty said. "Just like we have no choice, there's a big markup on toll, our customers, unfortunately, need to bear that. But they're not just going to bear it; they're going to increase their prices where they can for the direct costs that will hit the goods and the consumer."
NYSTA Executive Director Frank Hoare noted this is not a toll increase on commercial drivers, adding the tolls commercial carriers and drivers pay the thruway today, including discounts, will continue to be the same.
NYSTA is not charging carriers and drivers this fee. If carriers and drivers experience increased costs, the duty will come from the technology providers.
The fee is “to those private companies who are making money, who are charging commercial drivers a fee to do what they do for them. That's who is being charged, not a commercial driver,” Hoare said. “We're not raising tolls. If a service provider raises their fees and points to us, that's a choice by the service provider.”
Why the change?
Hoare said the toll management service provider E-ZPass commercial charge account program has been in place for 20 years, and it is now being revised to reflect the changes that have taken place in the tolling industry over that period.
Toll booth operators are now gone in New York, replaced by an electronic tolling system. Despite that, Hoare said NYSTA still has administrative expenses, including the costs associated with running the commercial charge account program.
In addition to the 1% fee, changes to the program include a new rule that requires any toll service provider that signs up with the thruway to provide its customers with a transparent list of charges, including toll costs and any additional fees levied by the provider.
NYSTA is opening the program to additional providers with a goal to ultimately lower costs for commercial carriers, Hoare said.
“There are a lot more companies out there today than there were 20 years ago, even five years ago. We've had interest from across the country. There are a lot of service providers who do different elements, do different things for the trucking industry,” he said. “We think we'll see more than the current two who have, in essence, had a monopoly for the last 20 years. They've had the field alone. They've been able to charge whatever they want to their customers, and they see that changing now, which is why they're pushing back so strongly.”
Hoare added that commercial drivers and trucking companies have the option to work directly with NYSTA if they are concerned about a cost increase.
Cloud of confusion
Fleetworthy said in its letter to the governor that “this surcharge was announced without prior notice, stakeholder engagement or any clear operational justification.”
Hoare told CCJ that New York has a strict administrative process for raising tolls that includes community hearings, but that has not happened because NYSTA isn’t raising tolls. He added that the thruway started meeting with PrePass and Fleeworthy in July 2024 to discuss changes to the program.
“They've had lawyers and lobbyists constantly reaching out to me individually as the executive director, and I don't think a week has gone by in those 18 months that their staffs have not reached out to our staff to talk about the program, to give us input and to discuss what we were doing,” Hoare said. “In fact, the current program reflects some of the points and some of the issues that these two companies raised.”
Fogarty said NYSTA did speak to some of Fleetworthy’s lobbyists a couple of times, but they were not made aware of this change until it was posted on the NYSTA website.
“We were shocked by that. Shocked that we couldn't sit down and talk about it. Shocked that we couldn't find any record of any public meetings or hearings,” he said. “We firmly believe that the thruway – if they're implementing a new class of customer into their toll program, which appears to be exactly what they're trying to do – should be subject to public notice, hearing, discussion, long before implementation. Clearly, none of that's happened here.”
Call to action
Fleetworthy is calling on NYSTA to withdraw its surcharge and conduct a transparent review with industry stakeholders and is requesting that the thruway prioritize fixing existing toll collection issues before adding costs.
Fogarty referenced a 2023 audit of NYSTA and a 2025 update from the Office of the New York State Comptroller. According to the comptroller’s 2023 audit, the thruway “has to do a better job of identifying, billing, and collecting tolls and related fees, including $276.3 million it has a collection agency seeking as of March 2023.”
The comptroller’s latest audit found that the thruway had made improvements but work still needed to be done related to issues with unreadable license plates and uncollected and mischarged tolls.
NYSTA said all tolling authorities using cashless tolling experience issues with unreadable license plates. According to a NYSTA representative, these represent less than 1% of total annual transactions, and the thruway is combatting the issue with enforcement actions with the New York State Police Troop T, which is dedicated to the thruway.
