Furious Five Boro Bike Tour cyclists ripped the MTA on Sunday over its reported threat to charge the event for lost tolls from the Verrazzano Bridge.
“Between [a potential toll bill] and congestion pricing, I think they’re out of their mind,” Bob Sweeney, a 65-year-old retired firefighter from Queens, seethed of transit officials.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority last month infamously proposed charging the New York City Marathon hundreds of thousands of dollars for tolls lost to the bridge’s shutdown during the famed running race, creating such widespread outcry that Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered the agency to hit the brakes.
But bike-tour organizers — who were likewise reportedly threatened with a whopping bridge toll bill — say they never got the same promise of a future reprieve.
While this year, the bike tour was expected to shell out what it did last year to the MTA, neither the transit agency nor Hochul’s office would say Sunday whether Five Boro would be subject to a devastating massive toll bill in the future.
“That’s ridiculous,” Sweeney said of the situation. “This is a great event, a lot of people that live in the city take part. … They should probably lower the price to get more people to take part.”
Other riders said they fear a potential toll charge — which might boost the bike tour’s $139 entrance fee — could effectively kill participation in the ride, which draws around 32,000 people annually.
“That’s not cool,” said Glenna Hamilton, a 54-year-old office manager from Queens.
“I don’t think a lot of people would ride — it would deter me from riding,” she said of a cost increase. “Why pay so much for an event? You can just go to the park.”
Kenneth Podziba, the CEO of ride-organizer Bike New York, told The Post that he’s been fearful the MTA would hit the organization with a massive tab over the lost bridge tolls, estimated for the marathon to have been around $750,000.
“We’re a great event, we’re a charity, we do great things with our money,” Podziba said, adding he doesn’t believe the MTA actually loses cash because of the tour.
“They haven’t been able to provide us with any kind of proof of lost revenue,” he said.
“When the governor told the MTA to fix this mess, she was only referring to the marathon — she was silent about the Five Boro Bike Tour, as if we don’t exist,” Podziba said. “I wish the governor would come out and make a statement to fix this mess, as it refers to the bike tour as well.”
The governor’s office Sunday directed Post questions to the MTA — which did not provide any updates as to its plans, including about whether it will try to charge the tour for lost tolls in the coming years.
The MTA already has its hands full with another major controversy: congestion pricing, or the move to toll drivers in the heart of Manhattan an extra $15 toll starting next month.
“Bike New York will be reimbursing the MTA for overtime and certain other expenses at the same rate that it did in 2023, and we’ve collaborated with event organizers to reduce those expenses as much as possible,” spokesman Aaron Donovan only said in a statement, referring to Sunday’s event.
“We look forward to a successful event this weekend,” he added.
Bike New York paid roughly $90,000 to use the Verrazzano last year. That included overtime and other costs involved in shutting down the bridge’s lower deck.
The tour — which snakes 40 miles through the city — begins in Lower Manhattan and ends on Staten Island.
Riders told The Post that hitting all five boroughs — including by cycling across the city bridge — are part of what makes the event worth it.
They said that if the tour had to cut the Verrazzano out — or the cost went too high — they probably wouldn’t return.
“The [40] miles of open streets through all five boroughs, no cars, is what I came down here for,” said Abby Lore, a 29-year-old teacher from Washington, DC.
“If it was not as open and accessible, I probably wouldn’t do it,” she added. “The Verrazzano is a key part of this. I felt like it rounded out the whole route.”
Therese Holm, a healthcare worker from Manhattan who did the ride with her fiancée, said she’d think twice about registering if the price inflated, even though she loves riding down the FDR Drive in Manhattan.
“It gets to a point that I’m not going to pay that kind of money,” she said.
Jay Durdan, a 65-year-old retiree from Dash Point, Wash., said he was floored when he heard the city wanted to hike the rates.
“I don’t like it at all,” he said. “New York has its reputation, but when you have these diamond events, it’s one heck of a way to bring people out from around the world and around the United States.
“It’s good for the local economy. Figure out how to raise something in the budget [rather] than raise the rate for an event like this.”
Podziba said he’s hoping the tour next year doesn’t have to chop off its tail end, which would keep riders from heading over the Verrazzano into Staten Island, because of a lost-toll cost.
“We’d have to call it a Four Boro Bike Tour, and it wouldn’t be as interesting,” the organizer said.
“They’re trying to take the fun of this great, iconic New York City event. You can only ride on the Verrazzano one day out of the year, and that’s the first Sunday of May for the TD Five Borough Bike Tour, and that’s amazing.
“It would be too bad if we had to make it four boroughs.”
