Bye-bye Tollbooths: New York State Thruway Goes Cashless

The New York State Thruway Authority is apparently on schedule to implement cashless tolling across the superhighway's entire length — notices laying off toll collectors at the remaining staffed toll barriers have been sent out, the Times Herald-Record reported.

Michael Osborne, president of the union, said his members had received notices. President of CSEA Local 058, he represents about 40 of the 200 full-time employees affected by the conversion to All Electronic Tolling.

The collectors' last day is Sunday and toll plaza managers' last day is Wednesday, the paper reported. About 900 part-time workers are also affected. Read the entire article on recordonline.com.

One of the longest toll roads in the country, the thruway is 570 miles long with several branches. The main section runs from New York City through the Hudson Valley to Buffalo (I-87 and I-90); branch lines in the lower Hudson Valley include the New England Thruway (I-95), the Cross Westchester Expressway (I-287) and the Garden State Parkway Connector.

Motorists traveling on the Thruway in the Hudson Valley have already gotten used to the system — the toll barriers in Spring Valley, across the Tappan Zee, and in New Rochelle went cashless a while ago.

Under the cashless system, cars drive under a gantry with state-of-the-art sensors and cameras that read E-ZPass tags and capture license plate images so vehicles no longer have to stop to pay the toll.

Vehicles with E-ZPass tags are automatically charged and vehicles without E-ZPass tags will have their license plate image captured and a toll bill will be mailed to the registered owner of each vehicle.

Want more information from the Thruway Authority about cashless tolling?

• Cashless Tolling Billing Process
• Cashless Tolling Tips
• Pay Your Cashless Tolling Bill
• Use E-ZPass for Cashless Tolling
• Cashless Tolling Project
• Proposed Toll Adjustment Information
• Office of the Toll Payer Advocate

The Thruway Authority had not responded to a request for comment from Patch at the time this report was filed.