How inflation happens. Do you know how much of this money goes to subsdize public transportation? Lots.

PA hikes taking huge truck toll

By DANNY GOLD AND JENNIFER FERMINO

It’s gonna get costly to keep on truckin’.

Big rigs that carry everything from food to medicine into the city will get slammed with monster-sized toll hikes on Port Authority bridges and tunnels -- and the massive increases will certainly get passed on to consumers.

New York’s crossings are already the costliest in the country, but a new series of toll hikes the Port Authority approved yesterday will see them balloon over the next four years, beginning next month.

Everyone who uses the PA’s facilities was hit with an increase, but truckers were hit the hardest.

Cash tolls on a 5-axle tractor trailer -- the type of truck commonly used to make deliveries -- will increase from $40 to $65 starting next month, eventually climbing to a whopping $105 per trip in 2015.

“Disappointed would be putting it lightly,” said Kendra Adams, president of the New York State Motor Truck Association. “We’re irate.”

The rest of the city will be soon enough, as 90 percent of goods sold in the Big Apple are brought in by truck, she said.

“You’re going to see increases in clothing, medical supplies, food,” she said.

Big Apple businesses -- already paying exorbitant fees to have their goods trucked in -- are preparing for the worst.

“People tell me, ‘How come in Jersey a gallon of milk is $3 and here it’s $4?’ ” said Ottavio Mannarino, who manages Frank and Eddie’s Meats on 86th Street in Bay Ridge.

The answer is simple.

Much of his stock comes from New Jersey via Staten Island and is slapped with a $177 delivery fee, which partly covers the tolls.

A 5-axle truck going to his deli from New Jersey through Staten Island would currently pay at least $110 in cash tolls during peak hours for trips over the Port Authority’s Staten Island bridges.

That will jump to $135 next month.

“They’re forcing people out of the state,” said Mannarino.

$$ pain in the axle

Port Authority’s nonauto toll hikes:

* Trucks are responsible for bringing in 90 percent of goods to New York City.

* A typical 5-axle tractortrailer, which commonly makes NYC deliveries, will see cash tolls rise from $40 to $65 next month and $105 in 2015.

* Trucks with EZPass will pay an extra $2 per axle starting next month, followed by additional $2 increases per axle every year up to and including 2015.

Read more:http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/pa_hikes_taking_huge_truck_toll_Seh52Uk9l4RWjyeKXb9U4K#ixzz1Vat3zcUB