A bridge toll too far on SI

Only one thing riles Staten Islanders more than hiking the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge toll to an eye-popping $19: interfering with their ability to gripe about it.

“It burns me that the MTA is doing this without us,” said Scott Maurer. “They’re going to raise the tolls that fall on me and I can’t even go and speak my voice.”

The toll on the span (inset), the “forgotten” borough’s only direct vehicle connection to the rest of the city, could zoom 12 percent higher than its already eye-popping $17 in March as part of an across-the-board rate hike.

But the only public hearing in the borough starts when few commuters can actually get there: 5:30 p.m. Monday at the College of Staten Island.

“They picked the time to suppress participation,” charged Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-SI/ Brooklyn). “If you work in Midtown, you’re lucky if you get on an express bus by 5:30. By the time my constituents reach Staten Island, it’s 7.”

Even worse, the meeting falls on the second night of Hanukkah.

“That just adds insult to injury,” Malliotakis said.

“They would never hold a hearing like this anytime between Christmas Eve and Jan. 1,” said Maurer, who heads the Council of Jewish Organizations of Staten Island.

And Brooklynites at the other end of the bridge who want to attend a hearing will have one in their borough on Dec. 10, the final night of the Festival of Lights.

“Almost 5,000 Staten Island children travel to yeshivas in Brooklyn every day,” Maurer said. “This is a hardship and an expense for our families.”