The city’s new congestion toll is causing some confusion pricing.
Upper East Sider Dylan Yen was socked with a $45 charge for a drive into the dreaded congestion zone in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday — even though the toll should have been nine bucks.
“If I hadn’t checked the app that morning, I would’ve never known I had gotten charged, and I suspect that this may be the case for many others,” Yen told The Post.
The timing of the charge raised a red flag, he said, coming after President Trump announced he would reverse approval of the toll as New York defiantly pledged to fight the move in court.
“With the Trump administration ordering the cessation of the tolls, this felt like a last-ditch effort to wring more money out of our pockets before the program gets killed for good,” Yen, a consultant, said.
And though he was refunded for the excessive charge after publicly calling out the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on social media, he warned other drivers to “check your E-ZPass account” every week.
“Make sure the tolls match, especially because these tolls often take days to appear on your account, unlike regular bridge/tunnel tolls,” he said.
The charge was triggered just after 3:30 p.m. on Friday, according to billing records reviewed by The Post, when Yen was driving out of the congestion tolling zone heading to Fairview, New Jersey via the Lincoln Tunnel for a client meeting.
“My first reaction was, ‘What happened here? Of course, with congestion pricing basically being the talk of the town, everybody knows it’s $9 – but why am I being charged $45.04?’” Yen, 24, told The Post.
Yen announced his issue on X on Wednesday, with several commenters chiming in that they had been overcharged as well. One user claimed to have been billed for $13.50 — which would be the price of the toll without the E-ZPass discount.
The MTA responded to Yen on social media, telling him to call E-ZPass’ customer service hotline.
“I called EZ-Pass,” Yen added. “They told me they would look into it, no explanation given.”
MTA spokesperson David Steckel said there were processes in place “to fix any system error that might overcharge someone.”
“ Due to a processing error, a driver was incorrectly invoiced and the overcharge quickly refunded in this isolated instance,” Steckel said. “The system is designed to flag billing that’s not consistent with published rates.”
Yen confirmed Thursday afternoon that the partial refund of the toll had hit his account.
But he still has no love for the congestion toll, which he said he pays on his way to Queens — and backs up traffic near his apartment as drivers crowd to use the last “free” route on the upper level of the Queensboro Bridge.
“The Upper East Side is not part of the congestion zone, but it all comes here,” Yen said. “We’re all paying for it.”