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In short: At MTA bridges and tunnels, 85.8% of the 340.4 million crossings in 2025 were read as E-ZPass and 14.2% as Tolls by Mail. That share has hardly moved since 2020: it has stayed between about 85% and 86.5% every year. For a driver, the mail rate is not a small difference. A car pays $7.46 with a NY E-ZPass at the six big MTA crossings, and $12.03 by mail.
All crossing counts on this page come from MTA's hourly crossings dataset on NY Open Data, which TLC Help queried on October 12, 2026 (data through September 22, 2026). Toll rates come from the MTA rate table, effective January 4, 2026.
The numbers at a glance
Share by crossing
Every MTA crossing is cashless. The share read as E-ZPass ranged from 83.2% at the RFK Bridge's Bronx plaza to 90.3% at the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge. The two Rockaway bridges and the Verrazzano-Narrows, the crossings with resident discount plans, had the highest shares. The Bronx and Queens bridges had the lowest.
Year by year
The E-ZPass share was highest in 2019 (87.3%) and has stayed in a narrow band since. Crossings fell in 2020 and were back above 2019 levels in 2021. The 2026 figure covers January 1 to September 22 only.
The rate gap: what the mail rate costs
The share matters because the price gap is large. A crossing billed by mail costs more at every MTA and Port Authority crossing. These are car rates (as of 2026-10-12):
A simple example, using those rates: a driver who crosses one of the six major MTA crossings 10 times a week pays $74.60 with a NY E-ZPass and $120.30 by mail. That is $45.70 more every week, before any late fee. If a bill is not paid, MTA adds a $5 late charge after 30 days and $50 per unpaid toll after 60 days (MTA). See the toll bill late-fee timeline.
Under TLC rules a passenger pays only "the actual amount (often a discounted toll) charged to the EZ-Pass" (TLC chapter 58, §58-26(e)(3)). So when a crossing is billed by mail, the extra cost lands on the tag holder or the vehicle owner, not the rider. Read can I charge the passenger the Tolls by Mail rate?
How often TLC trips pay a toll
The MTA data can't single out TLC vehicles, but TLC's own trip records show how often a trip has a toll. In TLC Help's 12-month trip-record datasets (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 9 app trips and about 1 in 14 yellow taxi trips recorded a toll.
What the data can't tell you
- Who was driving. The MTA dataset has no taxi or for-hire field. These shares are for all traffic.
- What was finally charged. MTA describes the payment method as the "preliminary payment method read from the vehicle," which can change once the toll is actually paid. The count also includes all traffic "regardless of whether the driver ultimately pays the toll."
- Mid-Tier. The data has only two labels, E-ZPass and Tolls by Mail. It does not show Mid-Tier charges, which MTA bills when a NY account's tag is not properly mounted or the toll is posted by plate. See the Mid-Tier rate and tag mounting.
- Out-of-state tags. MTA charges E-ZPass rates only to customers of the E-ZPass New York Customer Service Center; "Non-NYCSC customers pay Tolls by Mail rates." The dataset doesn't show who issued a tag, so it can't tell you how many tag reads were charged the mail rate under that rule.
- Port Authority, Thruway or New Jersey crossings. This dataset covers MTA facilities only.
If you hold E-ZPass and still get bills, the usual causes are covered in why did I get a toll bill with E-ZPass? and Tolls by Mail for TLC vehicles.
Source, method and data lag
- Crossings: NY Open Data dataset ebfx-2m7v, "MTA Bridges and Tunnels Hourly Crossings: Beginning 2019". TLC Help summed
traffic_countby year, facility, vehicle class category and payment method. Data ran from January 1, 2019 to September 22, 2026 when queried on October 12, 2026; MTA last updated it on October 8, 2026. - Rates: MTA rates effective January 4, 2026; Port Authority rates as listed on its tolls page on October 12, 2026. Both are kept in one file on this site so every page shows the same numbers.
- TLC trips: TLC trip record data, September 2025 to August 2026. TLC publishes trip files about two months after each month ends and may revise them.
Related reading: Tolls by Mail, tolls on the way to a pickup, FHV minimum pay, and the tolls hub.
Frequently asked questions
What share of MTA crossings use E-ZPass?
In 2025, 85.8% of the 340.4 million crossings at MTA bridges and tunnels were read as E-ZPass and 14.2% as Tolls by Mail, in MTA's hourly crossings data on NY Open Data (queried October 12, 2026).
Which MTA crossing has the lowest E-ZPass share?
The Bronx plaza of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge: 83.2% E-ZPass in 2025. The highest was the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge at 90.3%.
How much more does Tolls by Mail cost a car?
At the six major MTA crossings, $12.03 by mail against $7.46 with NY E-ZPass, a gap of $4.57 per crossing (MTA rates effective January 4, 2026).
Does this data show TLC vehicles separately?
No. The MTA dataset counts all traffic by vehicle class and payment method. It has no field for taxis or for-hire vehicles.
Is the payment method in the data final?
No. MTA calls it the preliminary payment method read from the vehicle, subject to change based on the actual payment.
Sources
Last reviewed against the official sources on .
- NY Open Data: MTA Bridges and Tunnels Hourly Crossings: Beginning 2019 (ebfx-2m7v), queried 2026-10-12 data.ny.gov
- MTA: Tolls by vehicle type (rates effective Jan 4, 2026) mta.info
- Port Authority of NY & NJ: Tolls (July 2026 toll rates) panynj.gov
- NYC TLC: Trip Record Data nyc.gov
Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll check it against the official source.
TLC Help is not a law firm and is not affiliated with the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission or OATH. Explanations on this site are general information, not legal advice. Legal representation is provided by independent attorneys and OATH-registered representatives in our network.