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New York Post
NYC’s 5 Boro Bike Tour worried MTA still wants hundreds of thousands of dollars in tolls for using Verrazzano Bridge: ‘Will sink us’
By Vaughn Golden, Steve Janoski,
23 days ago
It’s a crash waiting to happen.
The organizer of the Five Boro Bike Tour — which will see 32,000 people cycling across New York City on Sunday — says he’s worried the MTA could demand hundreds of thousands of dollars for the beloved event to use the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge next year.
After an outpouring of outrage last month — including a Post cover — over the MTA’s plan to charge the New York City Marathon $750,000 in tolls for the span, Gov. Kathy Hochul swooped in and told the agency to hit the brakes.
But the bike tour, which was the subject of similar cash-grab demands, never got such a reprieve — despite questions by The Post at the time.
“When the governor told the MTA to fix this mess, she was silent on Bike New York and the Five Boro Bike Tour. She was referring to the marathon. And so we do not know,” Kenneth Podziba, the CEO of Bike New York, which organizes the tour, told the Post.
Podziba said the MTA isn’t talking, so he’s concerned the bike tour will be told to cough up hundreds of thousands of dollars for next year’s event.
The money is meant to reimburse the MTA for lost toll revenue while the lower deck of the Verrazzno bridge is shut down for the cyclists, the agency previously said.
“It will sink us because we don’t have the budget of the marathon,” Podziba said.
“We’re small. So we’re very worried and we don’t know.”
Podziba says it cost Bike New York roughly $90,000 to use the Verrazzano last year — the bill for overtime and other labor costs involved in shutting down the lower deck of the bridge.
MTA Spokesperson Aaron Donovan told The Post in a statement that this year, the bill will be similar, adding, “we’ve collaborated with event organizers to reduce those expenses as much as possible.”
The MTA would not comment on whether the agency would try to recoup tolls for future bike tours.
The tour — which snakes 40 miles through the city — begins in lower Manhattan and ends on Staten Island. It started in 1977, and it’s meant to be a fun ride for all-comers — not an elite race like the New York City Marathon, Podziba said.
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