A new year is bringing higher transportation costs for motorists and those using mass transit.
A minimum wage hike is putting more money in workers’ pockets and impacting the bottom lines of New Jersey businesses.
To help pay for its ambitious $45 billion infrastructure plans over the next 10 years, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey boosted tolls by 3% for all bridges and tunnels under its jurisdiction. Toll hikes include the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, the George Washington Bridge, the Bayonne & Goethals bridges, and the Outerbridge Crossing.
During peak hours, tolls for cars with E-ZPass climbs to $16.79, an increase from $16.06.
The off-peak toll for E-ZPass rises to $14.79. If you don’t have E-ZPass, the toll-by-plate rate soars to $23.30.
Tolls increased by 3% on the Parkway and the Turnpike beginning Jan. 1. Â
A trip on the full 117-mile length of the Turnpike between the Delaware Memorial Bridge and George Washington Bridge climbs to $22 from $21.35 for those paying cash. E-ZPass customers are paying $21.88 for peak hour travel from $21.24. Off-peak rises to $16.40 from $15.93 for all E-ZPass customers.
Commuters who ride the PATH transit system, also operated by the bistate agency, will be hit with a fare increase in May.
As previously reported, NJ Transit will boost ticket prices by 3% beginning on July 1, and raise the fare indefinitely every July 1, after the transportation agency increased ticket fares 15% in 2024, which was the first hike in 10 years.
The fare increases followed a decision reached by the NJ Transit board in April 2024 to lift ticket prices annually to address some of the agency’s ongoing funding shortfalls. Â
Gas prices declined as the year ended, but the gas tax rose to start 2026. The Department of the Treasury announced Dec. 1 that New Jersey’s gas tax rate would rise by 4.2 cents per gallon on Jan. 1, 2026, to support the state’s Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) program.Â
This increase is the result of the 2024 law (Chapter 7) which gradually raises the state’s Highway Fuel Cap from fiscal year 2025 through fiscal year 2029. There have been five rate increases, two rate decreases, and two years with no change since the annual rate adjustment calculation began in 2017.
Workers in New Jersey will see more money in their paychecks in 2026. Starting on Jan. 1, the minimum wage in New Jersey increased by 43 cents per hour for most employees, bringing it to $15.92. New Jersey is one of 19 states that raised the minimum wage in 2026, affecting about 8.3 million workers nationwide, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
The minimum cash wage rate for tipped workers will increase to $6.05 an hour from $5.62, with the maximum tip credit that employers can claim remaining at $9.87. If the minimum cash wage and tips do not equal at least the state minimum wage, the employer must pay the difference.
The minimum wage for employees of seasonal and small employers in New Jersey will gradually rise until 2028. The hourly wage bumps up to $15.23 for these employees from $14.53.
Agricultural workers are guided by a separate minimum wage timetable, and their minimum wage rate will continue to increase incrementally until 2030. Employees who work on a farm for an hourly or piece-rate wage will see their minimum hourly wage increase to $14.20, up from $13.40.
Long-term care facility direct care staff will see their minimum hourly wage rise by 43 cents to $18.92.
At $15.92 per hour, New Jersey had the eighth-highest minimum in the nation behind the District of Columbia ($17.50), Washington state ($17.13), Connecticut (16.94), California ($16.90), New York ($16 – $17 in New York City, Westchester County and Long Island), Hawaii ($16), Rhode Island ($16). The federal minimum wage rate is $7.25, unchanged since 2009.
