New York – Tollbooth attendants could soon be left in the dust.
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Cashless tolls could come to MTA bridges and tunnels after the agency conducts a 14-month study to begin at the end of this month.
The technology could have drivers waving goodbye to awkward cash handoffs and mechanical barriers.
Instead, drivers would zip through the same way they do in E-ZPass express lanes, leaving all the work to a transponder attached to their car or a video camera that focuses on passing license plates.
Bills would then be sent to drivers’ homes.
The cashless tolls could also save drivers from being stranded at endless stop-and-go toll-plaza lines – and save the MTA funds, officials said.
About 25 percent of drivers who use the MTA’s crossings use cash to pay tolls, according to internal statistics.
The agency’s Bridge and Tunnel division generates more toll revenue than any other such agency in the country, raking in $3.1 billion each year. About 850,000 drivers use the crossings each day.
It’s too early to say what kind of tolling will be looked at, MTA officials said.
“We will use the upcoming study to consider all implementation options at this point,” said Joyce Mulvaney, a spokeswoman for the agency’s bridges and tunnels.
MTA board members are expected to approve a $1.5 million, yearlong study contract with Hackensack-based PBS&J Architecture at their Jan. 28 meeting.
The Port Authority also began looking into the speedy tolls for their six bridges and tunnels in 2007.
Their project should be completed by 2012.
“Right now, we’re looking at the options and related issues, like how to give out violations,” spokesman Steve Coleman said.
Cashless tolling is used in certain parts of California, Texas and Florida, and is a much bigger hit internationally, with the technology in place in Chile, Australia and Israel.
Many of the MTA’s toll plazas were on the outs anyway, according to an agency report.
“This is the right time to study and assess video tolling,” the report said, because “a number of existing toll plazas will need to be replaced in the future.”
The MTA’s facilities include the RFK Bridge (formerly the Triborough Bridge), the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, the Queens-Midtown Tunnel and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
Why waste time and money on a stupid study. This sums it up: “The agency’s Bridge and Tunnel division generates more toll revenue than any other such agency in the country, raking in $3.1 billion each year.”
Well, how much is that lost to waste and ancient technology (toll takers)? These toll takers are expensive union jobs with cushy legacy benefits that we pay for. Remember, most of these tolls were sold to the people as a way to pay for the orginal construction. What a load of BS.
Also, the environmental impact of idling cars is terrible while you crawl along during rush hour or on a holiday weekend. Think of all those times you missed appointments, were late to work or a meeting, etc. because our toll system is behind the times.
but the city will lose all those seat belt and registration ticket they give out at the toll booths, you can’t under estimate how important that is to them
This is why the mta keeps on raising their fares because they waste their money on useless things and they really do not know how to manage their agency.
At long last. Welcome to the 21st century.
Hopefully will get rid of all the long delays and keep traffic moving.