Millions of unsuspecting E-ZPass users are secretly getting slapped with the higher cash rate instead of receiving the electronic discount on a slew of costly local roads and crossings, including the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.
Transit agencies like the cash-strapped MTA and the equally broke New Jersey Turnpike Authority have quietly stopped giving the preferred rate to drivers with E-ZPasses issued from other states.
Both agencies stand to make millions of dollars off the move.
The MTA, which sneaked the policy into its fine print during the December fare hikes, charges the higher rate to anyone who doesn’t have an E-ZPass issued from the New York Service Center.
That means drivers pay $6.50 instead of $4.80 on the Bronx Whitestone, Throgs Neck and Robert F. Kennedy (formerly Triborough) bridges and the Brooklyn-Battery and Queens-Midtown tunnels.
The MTA is expected to make $33 million off the rule change this year.
The New Jersey Turnpike in July stopped giving breaks to drivers with E-ZPasses that aren’t issued by the Garden State.
A driver with an E-ZPass issued in any other state would pay $9.05 to travel the Turnpike from the first exit to the last — the same as a cash payer.
Those with New Jersey-issued E-ZPasses pay only $6.80 for the same route during off-peak hours.
There are no signs to warn out-of-state drivers about the rates, and many drivers were in the dark.
A spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority said the new policy would make the agency about $16 million a year.
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4 Responses
first who cares as long as you are not charged more then cash paying people.
second , you are still saving time by not having to go in the cash lanes to pay.
Let it just be pointed out that the toll for the 122 mile long Turnpike is not much higher than for the one or two mile bridges. MTA (and Port Authority) tolls are ridiculous.
when they hyped EZpass they told us we were going to save time and money because they wouldn’t have to hire additional mean toll collectors. So where is that savings???????????????
What about the fact that the MTA has your money in advance and they are holding it until you actually travel through a toll and get charged accordingly. They have made their threshold’s very steep in recent months. I was told by someone that they are demanding 60.00 and even over 100.00 from EZ Pass-NY customers if they see that the customer uses the EZ Pass more regularly. However it is possible that the customer may just be spiking his or her usage due to a reasion such as they are going back and forth to the country now and the MTA just automatically sends you a letter that your new replenishment amount has gone up due to your activity.
Once they say that your replenishment amount is 60.00 or 120.00 you cannot fight them and all you can do is wait 6 months to call back and ask them to reevaluate your usage.
They do not give back any interest on your money that they are holding . It may be faster to drive through the tolls with out waiting for a toll collector and it is certainly much better but the MTA should not be allowed to hold millions and millions of peoples money before they even use the services.As far as the MTA charging CASH PRICES instead of discounted EZ PASS prices is STAM GENEYVA, but try teaching that to them !!