Living in the tri-state area, ny, ct, nj, I am constantly passing through tolls. Now quite honestly, I don't mind the $ aspect of it, i've accepted that. Plus, I am whats called an EZ-Pass. For those of you living in the jungle somewhere (lol jk), that is a magnetic device that you put in the windshield, and then you drive through the toll booth at a reduced speed without having to stop and it charges your cc. Anyway, anytime i'm driving on i-95 or want to cross the GW bridge etc, there is ALWAYS traffic approaching the toll booths. Why? Because there are sooo many freakin idiots out there that still don't have an ez-pass and in turn, the lines back up onto the highway and we end up falling asleep waiting. So my question is, why not get an ez-pass?? Its free to get, you get in and out MUCH quicker, you don't need to carry cash, and most importantly, the tolls are LESS EXPENSIVE with the ez-pass. Heck, even if you don't have a credit card, you can still get an ez-pass and write a check each month. They should just not open the tolls booths for cash anymore and then people wouldn't have a choice! But they can't open only 1 or 2 cash booths to teach the cash payers a lesson b/c then EVERYONE will have to sit in traffic for 353 hours, so its a catch-22.....AHHH :deep breath: i'm done

 

I'm going to get one soon... question, do they expire? I figure most states probably have similar procedures for this?

 

I cross the WV border maybe once, twice every year?

 

EZ-passes are great, especially when ur just cruising by and you c the backup of the cars waiting in the other lines. They send u a new pass every so often or if they change designs.

 

I can not imagine a day where there is no traffic on the GWB. Even crossing to a less populated bridge, Throgsneck, there is traffic. Ppl may never move up to EZ-pass even though its been around for what seems like almost a decade and a half.

 

No, it never expires, but if you go through a 20mph toll booth at 55mph, they may take it away, if not the first time, definitely the 2nd, and of course a ticket to go with it, so you always make sure to do no more than the true speed limit

 

Its more the cross bronx as its such a major highway in which there is no nice alternative. Myself, I am always crossing between ny and ct, so I take the whitestone going up to ct and the throgsneck coming back to ny. I find there is minimal traffic that way, but I ever get backed up at the i-95 tollbooth in westchester b/c of all the idiots without an ez-pass

Guys, spread the word to family and friends, get an ez-pass

 

That sucks that they monitor your speed like that and can ticket you. In Illinois, it's illegal to do right now, believe me, if they monitored speed going through those, I'd be in jail due to tripling the speed limit through (I go 60 when the sl is 20).

In Illinois, they are finishing up open road tolling where pretty much if you have an I-pass, you don't even have to slow down because the highway doesn't condense at all, but if you want to pay with cash, you have to almost pull off the highway to do it. Works out pretty well. And it's double the amount to pay cash (80 cents vs 40 cents).

 

hmm... I have tried that. The only problem is, I live on the east side of Queens so getting to the Whitestone is a pain b/c I have to drive through the Van Wyck and Whitestone Expressway..... but I will try that next time I head to CT.

 

In Massachusetts you have to shell out some money ($26 or something; I forget) to get the "Fast Lane" pass. I just have a ton of quarters ready in the car so I'm not one of those people digging around in their wallet to pay a $0.30 toll.

 

Yea, whitestone is much faster and more direct to CT.

teamben158, what you're talking about is the future. They already have those in md i believe where you don't have to slow down at all. Hopefully those will become standard and slowly but surely wheen people off the cash method!

 

cool... tks for the info.

Yea, same here on the tickets... luckily our expressway is converting most major tollbooth e-pass lanes to totally open lanes - meaning you don't have to slow down at all! It's pretty cool, and seriously relieves congestion.

Not to mention how much safer it is than trying to squeeze through narrow concrete structures at speed.

 

i guess I'm lucky. I don't really ever have to go through toll booths here. :D Although when I went down to Tulsa for Asylum, I had to use toll roads. I think it was $2-3 if you went the entire length of the toll road. It looked like those with an EZpass just got to drive by without slowing down.

 

I got ezpass a few years ago for my motorycles when I got tired of fumbling for change on the NJ Turnpike. the fact that I can use it in the car as well is a bonus

 

Only thing worse is when Morons enter the EZ Pass lane who don't have an EZ-Pass.

 

That will never happen. If I visit my brother in NY I have to go through tollbooths. I'm not going to get an ez-pass for a toll system I visit once every 2 or 3 years or whatever. They have to keep cash lanes open for people that don't live in the area and are just traveling through.

 

EZPass gets me through traffic so much more than i have to wait for someone who's stopped in an ezpass lane without one.

Actually.... that's never happened to me.

 

u forget its NYC? its something like 7 million people in NYC alone... I95 is also used to get to other states to the northeast... so traffic no matter what!

 

NYC traffic FTW!!!

no, seriously, just to get from Queens to the Bronx via Whitestone Expressway during rush hour is NUTS!

 

espescially with the construction and lane closures on that bridge!