Meet the author: Donald Hubicki
Donald Hubicki is Managing Director at Global Toll Services, a third-party vendor who helps rental operators deal with tolls. He has been working in the toll industry for over 35 years, and helped create the E-ZPass service back in the early 1990’s.
The opinions expressed in this article are only those of the author and not necessarily those of ACRA.
Those pesky tolls represent a challenge for most rental operators. The best way to handle it: encourage renters to bring their own toll transponder to pay for their own tolls. It makes everyone’s life easier. Yet, a recent, subtle change in New York City has added a wrinkle to this long-standing approach to tackle tolls.
After years of planning, Congestion Pricing began with much fanfare in Manhattan in January this year. It is poised to become the biggest evolution in toll collection since the start of E-ZPass back in 1993, as other cities in the U.S. monitor what happens in New York. It charges drivers a fee to enter the most congested parts of Manhattan, specifically areas south of 60th Street. Also known as the Central Business District Tolling Program, it aims to reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, and fund upgrades to the public transportation system in Manhattan.
On Jun 24, 2025, Upway in its article “NYC Congestion Pricing: Less Traffic and Big Revenues”, Congestion Pricing has already reduced traffic delays by 25% in Manhattan, and it is on target to generate $500 million net revenue in 2025 for transit improvement projects in that region.
New York City takes advantage of the ubiquitous E-ZPass service, charging the Congestion Toll fee to people’s E-ZPass accounts when they are identified as driving into Manhattan. Makes perfect sense. However, as the expression goes, “the devil is in the details”. For technical reasons, they do not charge the Congestion Toll fee based on reading the E-ZPass toll transponder on the windshield; instead, they charge based on reading the vehicle License Plate which they then look up against all the E-ZPass toll accounts. To most people, it doesn’t really matter: the toll transponder and the license plate are associated with the same motorist.
But, for a vehicle owned by one party (the rental operator) and driven by another party (the rental customer), this becomes an issue. The rental operator may tell the rental customer to bring their own toll transponder to pay for their own tolls, but it will not work that way for these Congestion Tolls. The rental operator, as the vehicle owner, is receiving all these toll charges either through toll accounts of their own, through third-party vendors they have enlisted, or through paper toll bills received in the mail. The rental operator then has to bill its rental customers… and explain why their toll transponder did not work for that Congestion Toll.
So, if you’ve been wondering why these charges keep coming back to you, as the famed radio host Paul Harvey used to say: “Now you know the rest of the story”.