New York, Mass. ending cash at toll booths
Paying cash at most New York and Massachusetts toll booths will soon be a thing of the past.
Yes, you will still have to pay.
Instead of stopping, sensors and cameras will be suspended over the highway. Vehicles with an E-Z Pass will be automatically charged, and non-E-ZPass vehicles will have their license plate recorded and a bill will be mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle.
The automated tolls are projected to significantly improve traffic flow, reduce congestion, save a million gallons of gas a year and decrease commuting time.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who announced the plan on Wednesday, said automatic tolling will be coming to all MTA bridges and tunnels by the end of next year. The seven MTA-operated bridges and its two tunnels, include the Whitestone, Throgs Neck and RFK Triborough bridges. The George Washington Bridge – operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey – is not included in the plan.
The move follows a national trend of toll authorities installiing automatic tolls, allowing drivers to proceed without stopping.
In Massachusetts, automatic tolling is coming at the end of October on the Massachusetts Turnpike, as well as all of the Boston tunnels and the Tobin Memorial Bridge. The all electronic tolling in the Bay State is expected to save the motoring public more than 800 hours of time every day, or 280,000 hours a year. The system will also save drivers up to 875,000 gallons of gasoline a year.
Like New York state’s plan, those without an E-Z Pass will be be sent a bill. Massachusetts, however, plans to add a “pay-by-plate” processing fee to cover mailing, processing “and other costs.”
What could all of this mean for currently toll-free Connecticut?
While no formal proposal has been made to bring back tolls to Connecticut highways, state officials have explored the idea.
In fact, a state commissioned study determined that that putting electronic tolls on all of Connecticut’s highways could generate more than $62 billion in revenue over 25 years. “Tolling can be a viable option for establishing a new, sustainable and equitable source of revenue for transportation investment in Connecticut,” consultant CDM Smith said in the federally funded study on tolls obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media.
The study looked at various tolling possibilities, including border tolls, limited tolls on certain highways and express lanes, and concludes maximum revenue would be produced by placing tolls on all highways — I-95 and I-84, the Merritt Parkway and limited access state highways such as Route 8.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has distanced himself from placing tolls on state highways. A spokesman said Malloy has never proposed tolls or endorsed the contents of the study.
Connecticut ended its use of tolls in October 1985, more than two years after the fiery crash that killed six, when a sleeping truck driver crashed his rig into a line of vehicles at the Stratford tolls.
A Quinnipiac University poll last year found voters opposed 61 to 36 percent on putting tolls on Connecticut highways. But voters supported tolls 59 – 40 percent if the money is used to repair the state’s roads and bridges.
Other ways to charge drivers are also being explored.
In June, a plan to look at how motorists could be charged a fee for miles driven on Connecticut roads was being met with fierce opposition and accusations of laying the groundwork for a new tax to fund transportation improvements. The controversy was sparked when lawmakers learned the I-95 Corridor Coalition, of which Connecticut is a member, had applied for federal money to set up a pilot program to study how mileage fees could be assessed and road miles counted.
Connecticut, along with Delaware, Pennsylvania, Vermont and New Hampshire, agreed to participate in a voluntary program to test the system. Connecticut’s share in the study’s cost is $300,000. In Connecticut, 50 volunteer motorists, mostly legislators and state officials, would test a fake vehicle miles tax.
State DOT officials said no one is considering a mileage tax, and stressed the grant application is simply a way to learn more about a levy being discussed across the country. One method of collecting a mileage tax involves plugging a small device into the computer port on the driver’s side of a car, the same port mechanics use to check engine codes. Another method employs a GPS smartphone application to track miles and roads used. Both methods transmit data to a state agency or vender for taxing purposes and billing.
Courtesy: The Hour – By Jim Shay – Updated 11:06 am, Thursday, October 6, 2016