Hurry up and wait
Commuters who travel between Philadelphia and New Jersey must wait to learn whether tolls are going up. For the second week in a row, the Delaware River Port Authority’s finance committee delayed a decision on toll hikes at PATCO fares.
Board members say they’ll consider it again next week. Fares on the PATCO train are to rise by 10 percent on Jan. 1 and tolls on the Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman and Commodore Barry Bridges are scheduled to jump to $5 from $4 on July 1.
Financial advisers have advocated for swift approval of the hikes. They say the delay could cause bond ratings to fall, and that could possibly cost nearly $1 billion.
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