It all stinks, say angry commuters

BY Erica Pearson, Andrew Garib and Bill Hutchinson, The New York Daily News | Link | Straphangers cursed and drivers flew into road rage when told Wednesday night of a plan to raise subway fares and put tolls on the free East River bridges.

"We can barely afford to come to work as it is," said Anabel Ortiz of Staten Island, driving over the Brooklyn Bridge last night from her job in Manhattan. "They’ve already raised the toll on the Verrazano."

Cabbie Mushtaq Ahmad said putting tolls on the Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Manhattan and Queensboro bridges would trigger around-the-clock gridlock.

"It’s not going to work," Ahmad fumed. "Traffic will be so backed up."

Abner Rabiner, another Brooklyn Bridge regular, added, "The reason people take the Brooklyn Bridge is to avoid a toll."

The commission, appointed by Gov. Paterson, suggested bridge tolls could help lessen an anticipated 23% subway bus and subway fare hike.

While most subway riders saw any increase in fares as a bad deal, upper East Side lawyer Warren Traiger took solace in the news that motorists might share the pain.

"The city functions a lot better when people take mass transit," said Traiger, 55.

Most straphangers were like Melanie Swanson, fed up that a boost in fares never seems totranslate into a boost in service.

"Where’s the money going?" asked Swanson, 50, of the lower East Side. End.