Albany, NY – Customers of state Thruway rest stops paid between 2 cents and 26 cents a gallon more for gas because the operators didn’t follow contract requirements, according to an audit released today.
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“Customers paid more for gas on the Thruway than they should have,” said state Comproller Thomas DiNapoli, whose office conducted the audit. “The amounts were small, but it can make a big difference to businesses and drivers who are frequent travelers on the Thruway. The Thruway is already hiking the tolls. Drivers shouldn’t be nickel and dimed at the pump too.”
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DiNapoli’s auditors checked prices at eight of the rest stops between May 1 and Aug. 31 of last year, and found that customers were overcharged at three of them (Sloatsburg in Rockland County, Dewitt in Onondaga County and New Baltimore in Greene County).
The authority, which has contracts with two firms to sell gas at the 640-mile-long toll road’s 27 rest areas, noted that the total amount overcharged was only $2,870, on sales of more than $35 million during the audit period.
“That reflects that the total sales amount charged to customers was 99.99 percent accurate,” said Thruway Authority Executive Director Michael Fleischer.
The two companies that run the gas stations, Sunoco and Lehigh, (which sells Mobil gas) are supposed to set prices based on weekly surveys of local gas stations.
The authority agreed to tighten up its oversight of price-setting procedures.
Gas prices for every service plaza are available at www.nysthruway.gov/travelplazas/gasprices/index.html.
The 2-26 cent number makes no sense.
I don’t know about the other locations, but the sloatsburg station is ALWAYS at least 50 cents more then any other station in the area.
That’s why I never bought gas on the thruway. I thought its the state over charging. Wow its the owners of the gas station. Go back to your country
And I figured out witout an audit that DiNapoli’s office charged the taxpayers thousands for this silly audit. Why do you need a audit to see that they overcharged?
I knew it everytime I passed these stations, just by looking at their posted price, and I just kept on driving.
A wonder that NY is bankrupt
The story can’t be true because 2 to 26 cents a gallon on 35 million in sales would be a lot more than $2870
If they overcharged an avg of 13 cents per gallon at $3 per gallon the total overcharged would be more than 1.6 million.
It always cracks me up to watch inzere heimishe yidden waiting in line for 20 minutes at the NJ gas station on the Palisades to fill up and save $5 on the tank of gas, then go spend $25 on chulov yisroel ice cream and other chazzerei that their waistlines could clearly do without!!