By WILLIAM J. KEMBLE
Correspondent

New York Thruway Authority officials on Thursday clarified a policy that allows emergency vehicles responding to calls or transporting patients to use the superhighway toll-free or receive refunds if they inadvertently are required to pay at a toll booth.

R.W. Groneman, a spokesman for the authority, said a letter was sent Wednesday to emergency service providers statewide to clarify an earlier notification that apparently was misunderstood by some emergency services crews and news agencies.

“Nothing has ever changed,” Groneman said. “We did not, in the past, charge tolls, we do not charge tolls, and we will not charge tolls (to emergency repsonders). In fact, we do everything in our power to assist and enable emergency vehicles to get to their assignment on our highway during emergency incidents.”

A June 1 letter sent to emergency service providers stated the authority would refund tolls paid by drivers of ambulances and fire vehicles “engaged in emergency operations.” That created the impression that emergency vehicles would have to stop at toll booths when getting on and off the highway.

In the letter clarifying the information, the agencies were told there would be “immediate and toll-free access” to those responding to incidents on the Thruway.

Groneman said on Thursday that toll-free access would be provided to vehicles transporting patients, such as between nursing homes or to a hospital, even if the situation is not an emergency. He did not have information about the number of times vehicles on either type of call had been inadvertently charged.

Groneman said emergency vehicles will have to pay tolls when using the Thruway for such things as repair trips or “going to a firemen’s parade three exits down. That’s not an emergency event.”

The law requiring a method for reimbursement was approved in 2010 by the state Legislature, which is considering a revised version that would ensure emergency vehicles are not charged for return trips after a call. The updated version is being sponsored by state Sen. James Seward, R-Milford.

Thruway Toll Letter 1

Thruway Toll Letter 2 Continued...

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“When this was put in originally, the question was not whether or not they were allowing ambulances through that had their flashing lights going, but ambulances that were on a transport call were not being allowed through,” said Jeff Bishop, a spokesman for Seward.

“There was a department in Coxsackie that had brought this to our office’s attention prior to 2009,” Bishop said. “They are routinely making trips along the Thruway from Coxsackie to Albany (Medical Center), and they were not being allowed through, and they had no other real route. ... It was their easiest and fastest route, and that’s why the bill was put in originally.”

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