A while back I compared past and current tolls on one of the Maryland bridges. While the current tolls are much higher, they are actually lower relative the cost of gas.
If this history is anything to go by, the Triborough tolls never were low.
http wrote:
Generating millions of dollars in toll revenue annually, the TBTA easily became a powerful city agency as it was capable of funding large capital projects. From the 1940s-60s, the TBTA built the Battery Parking Garage, Jacob Riis Beach Parking Field, Coliseum Office Building and Exposition Center and East Side Airlines Terminal, as well as many parks in the city.