MTR 287, GSP Finishes E-ZPass Roll-out First, Lags Behind Pike in Innovation

Issue 287

September 25, 2000

GSP Finishes E-ZPass Roll-out First, Lags Behind Pike in Innovation

Last Tuesday, the Garden State Parkway Authority began electronic toll collection at its Great Egg and Cape May Plazas, making it the first of New Jersey's two major tolled highways to offer full cash-less service. With these openings, transponder owners can have tolls immediately deducted from their E-ZPass account at every plaza up and down the entire 173-mile highway. Unlike the New Jersey Turnpike's system-wide blitz, the Parkway has outfitted tollbooths with the new collection method one by one, gradually progressing southward from the Hillsdale Plaza where automated payment was inaugurated in December.

The completion of the down-state roll-out does not mean that E-Z-Pass installation is finished on the Parkway. Currently 116 of the highway's 324 toll lanes can process E-ZPass, but 45 more lanes will ultimately be dedicated to E-ZPass drivers only. A spokesman for the authority told the Associated Press that almost all lanes will be equipped with E-ZPass sensors by 2001.

However, the Parkway has been far slower than the Turnpike in recognizing the coming of E-ZPass as an opportunity for more far-reaching congestion busting technologies such as varying peak/off-peak tolls and non-stop toll collection. The Turnpike will be the first major toll road in the country to offer discounts to off-peak drivers, an incentive likely to shift substantial traffic out of the morning and evening rush hours (MTR #286). In comparison, the Parkway does not even plan to reward E-ZPass users with a toll reduction. And while the Turnpike is experimenting with high-speed tolls on Exit 6 at the PA Turnpike Extension, the Parkway plans to add old-style stop-and-start toll booths when it begins tolling eight new interchanges in Cape May and Ocean County (MTR #208).

Assembly Transportation Chairman Alex DeCroce's Parkway Barrier Toll Removal Act (A35) would require the Parkway to replace its antiquated toll barriers with overhead gantries that can read E-ZPass transponders at normal highway speeds once electronic collection has reached a two-thirds market share. The bill passed the Assembly Transportation Committee, but still has no sponsor in the Senate (MTR #258). Senate Transportation Chair Andrew Ciesla (R-Ocean), who co-sponsored the bill in the last legislative session, represents shore communities that would welcome relief from toll plaza back-ups.

If the bill gains Senate support, Parkway drivers may not wait long to see its impact. An average of 20% of Parkway drivers now pay tolls using E-ZPass. But in early July, counts at the Hillsdale Plaza stood at 48% (MTR #276). Also, the number of people applying to the multi-state E-ZPass consortium for transponders skyrocketed last week, reported the Courier News, from a consistent range of 8,000-10,000 sales per week to 20,000 in anticipation of the Turnpike's debut. This dramatic increase suggests that E-ZPass market share on the Parkway will only continue to grow.