For eight years, Alfred Buono had made it a twice-weekly occurrence: He would drive his car across a bridge from New Jersey to Staten Island and not pay the toll — doing so a total of 998 times, authorities said.

By taking advantage of gateless E-ZPass toll lanes, Mr. Buono failed to pay a total of $5,254 in tolls, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

With the advent of E-ZPass, numerous toll authorities, including the Port Authority, have introduced gateless toll plazas, rewarding E-ZPass users with shorter travel times.

But at Port Authority crossings, records show, roughly 2 out of every 100 cars driving over bridges and through tunnels pass through the gateless toll lanes without paying.

It can be a costly problem: in 2010, the Port Authority lost $6.8 million in uncollected tolls, slightly better than the year before, when $7.4 million went unrecovered. On Friday, the Port Authority is expected to approve one of the biggest toll and fare increases in its history, phasing in a $4.50 E-ZPass toll increase at the major Hudson River crossings over five years, and raising single-ride PATH tickets by 25 cents a year for four years.

The planned changes, which on Thursday received the support of the governors of New Jersey and New York, may have a parallel effect of increasing the amount of money lost to toll cheats. “If you’re the kind of person who goes through without paying, you’re going to continue to do so,” said Dr. Roslyn Muraskin, a professor of criminal justice at the C. W. Post campus of Long Island University.

The process for trying to catch toll cheats begins with a photograph, automatically taken at the toll plaza, that is used to identify the offending vehicle’s license plate number. Using motor vehicle records, the Port Authority then tracks down the vehicle owner and sends a letter indicating that a toll and possibly a fine are due.

If the vehicle owner does not pay up, the Port Authority can then pursue the matter through civil court — which is where the agency is with Mr. Buono; according to court papers, the agency is seeking more than $30,000 from Mr. Buono, a figure that includes nearly $25,000 in penalties. Efforts to reach Mr. Buono were not successful.

Transportation authorities often have to grapple with deciding when it is worth chasing after some violators, especially those who may live in states where it is difficult to track down offenders.

“That is one of the great untold secrets for any given agency,” Neil Gray, the director of government affairs for the Washington-based International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, said about toll cheats. “You’ll probably spend more time and money chasing the toll than you will get for the toll.”

Some transportation agencies have taken longer to embrace gate-free lanes. In January, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority introduced its first gateless E-ZPass lanes, rolling them out on one of its smaller crossings, the Henry Hudson Bridge. In early 2012, the agency will expand all-electronic tolling across that entire bridge, which means no cash will be collected and drivers who do not have E-ZPass will receive a bill in the mail. When the agency completes the pilot project at the end of 2012, officials will decide whether to expand the program, said Judie Glave, an authority spokeswoman.

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