Mobilizing the Region

Issue 206 February 5, 1999


E-Z Pass Should Be EZ-er

NJ's current E-Z Pass boondoggle, replete with malfunctions, delays, contractor fines, and toll violators, has NJ drivers wondering why their state seems incapable of doing what NY did years ago. Initially scheduled to be installed on the Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, and Atlantic City Expressway by 1998, it is now predicted that the Turnpike and Parkway won't have the technology until 2001. The Expressway's first E-Z Path booths opened three months ago, but the system is malfunctioning, allowing some drivers to glide through the E-Z Pass lanes without paying.

But there is another way in which NJ is mishandling its E-Z Pass installation. The system under development in NJ changes toll-paying only minimally from that of a cash payment toll plaza. E-Z Pass users will still often have to wait in long traffic queues to pass through the same old toll booths at 5 MPH.

Highways in the Denver and Toronto use non-stop toll arrangements where electronic toll collection permits drivers to pay while proceeding at normal highway speeds.

Because its E-Z Pass system is under construction, NJ has a prime opportunity to explore the possibilities of non-stop tolling.


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