The N.Y. State Thruway Authority on Friday altered planned toll hikes for some trucks.
The new proposal would raise tolls paid in cash by 35 percent for most commercial truckers

and 25 percent for most automobiles, less for users of the E-Z Pass electronic toll-collection system.
The changes followed complaints from truckers who said proposed hikes based on axles and weight, would increase some tolls far more than 35 percent.
The changes announced Friday would make 48-foot, non-tandem commercial trucks eligible for an additional discount if they use E-Z Pass. In addition, a volume discount would reduce toll increases for most trucks to about 13.5 percent this year and 20.7 percent next year and thereafter.
William Joyce, president of the New York State Motor Truck Assn., told the Associated Press that the changes provide truckers with an option: If they use E-Z Pass, they will get a discount; if they don't, their toll increase still could be 100 percent, he said. But about 85 percent of Thruway truckers will now see a lower toll increase.
Thruway tolls were to have been eliminated in 1996, when initial construction costs were paid off. But in the 1980s, state officials decided drivers should pay to maintain the highway.