NEW YORK — The MTA's latest round of toll hikes went into effect on Sunday across nine bridges and tunnels throughout the city.

Those include the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, Queens Midtown Tunnel, RFK Bridge, Throgs Neck Bridge, Verrazzano Bridge and more.

For those tolls, drivers now have to pay $6.55, and if their E-ZPass reader is out of place, that goes up to $8.36 

Tolls by mail are now $10.17.

The 7% toll increase was approved unanimously in February by the MTA.

MTA Chairman Pat Foye had defended the increase, citing the agency’s ongoing fiscal challenges due to the pandemic, while noting vehicle traffic had rebounded much faster than ridership for mass transit.

Now, some drivers feel penalized for trying to stay safe amid the pandemic.

“Ever since the virus, I haven’t been riding the trains and the buses, everybody’s together, and they say you gotta be six feet apart and everybody’s cramped together,” said Les Goldberg, an Astoria resident. “I don’t want to take a chance and get the virus.”