E Zpass

I admit it: I am an E-ZPass user. I am well-connected, wirelessly speaking, to the electronic debiting monitor that demands my digital data. I gleefully speed (metaphorically speaking) through the New Jersey toll plazas at a lightning-fast pace of 15 m.p.h. or so, whizzing by those unfortunates who are waiting in line to pay their fees. And once a month I am informed of the cost of this privilege when my statement arrives in the mail. However, I confess, I do have E-ZPass envy when regaled with stories of other states with E-ZPass systems where motorists fly through electronic toll bridges at highway speeds, never having to stop to wait for the digital ding to provide permission to move forward.

As the Delaware River Port Authority taught us, there are two kinds of people in the world: those who pay tolls (also known as the suckers) and those who don't. New Jersey's state comptroller has just lifted the lid off some more of those who drive for free. It won't surprise anyone keeping his eyes on the road that these elites are employed by the toll-paying stiffs. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which runs the turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, gives all its employees E-ZPass transponders allowing free passage on both roads after a year of service, according to an audit by Comptroller Matthew Boxer's office.

Better get that E-ZPass. The Pennsylvania Turnpike's plan for all-electronic tolling envisions a 76 percent surcharge for motorists who don't use E-ZPass devices. That means a trip across Pennsylvania from Ohio to New Jersey that costs $30.17 with E-ZPass would cost $53.10 for a driver who would be billed by mail. The turnpike is moving to do away with all toll booths and instead charge drivers as they pass at highway speed under overhead gantries equipped with electronic readers and cameras.

E-ZPass has gotten a whole lot easier for drivers at four Delaware River bridges in the six weeks since introduction of the electronic toll collection. But there still remain a few bumps in the road that need smoothing out, according to Delaware River Port Authority spokesman Joseph K. Diemer. About 71,744 E-ZPass tags had been distributed by the start of this week, said Diemer, contributing to a weekday use of about 50 percent during the 6 a.m.-9 a.m. rush hour. "That's a really nice penetration," said Diemer.

New Jersey authorities are investigating the use of free E-ZPass transponders by executives of the Delaware River Port Authority. The state attorney general and comptroller have issued subpoenas for documents related to use of a free E-ZPass by former chief public safety officer Michael Joyce, DRPA chief executive John Matheussen said Friday. The pass had been issued to corporate secretary John Lawless. The Comptroller's Office also requested documents related to former DRPA Police Chief Vincent Borelli, who retired under pressure in 2008 and was replaced by Joyce.

Employees of the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission, which operates seven toll bridges between Trenton and the New York state line, will lose their free E-ZPass benefit May 2. The bridge commission approved eliminating the free rides Monday, responding to a request from Gov. Christie. Christie has targeted free rides for employees at a number of agencies, including the New Jersey Turnpike and the Delaware River Port Authority. He was rebuffed in his effort to eliminate the benefit for union employees at the DRPA when an arbitrator ruled in January that the workers were entitled to the free rides under terms of their labor contracts.

Why don't more people use E-ZPass? At the end of Memorial Day weekend, as I returned home from the Shore on the Atlantic City Expressway, it became apparent that the main cause of bumper-to-bumper traffic was largely a huge bottleneck at the Egg Harbor toll plaza. It seems that, throughout the region, only a small percentage of drivers use E-ZPass. Traffic would move more quickly and efficiently through tolls if more people signed up for the program. Those of us who use it are often impeded because we cannot get around traffic and gain access to the "E-ZPass Only" lanes.

Never doubt that the Delaware River Port Authority can be ingenious in coming up with new opportunities for patronage. The DRPA has hired politically connected law firms to go after toll bridge evaders at a cost of $225 an hour - whether they collect or not. By a recent tally of the last two years, the agency has spent about $32,594 more in lawyers' bills than the firms have collected in unpaid E-ZPass tolls. This system works great - if the goal is to pump up political patronage.

When Pamela Foster Brady left Woodstown, Salem County, to study civil engineering at the University of Tennessee, she vowed she'd seen the last of South Jersey. "After my first quarter, I said, 'I'm not coming back, there's a whole other world out there,' " she recalls. But 14 years later, she's finding the biggest challenge of her career right in her former backyard. Since January, she has been in charge of getting the E-ZPass electronic toll-collection system up and running on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway.

Most employees of the Delaware River Port Authority get 100 free E-ZPass rides a year across the agency's bridges, even after they retire. A dispute over the E-ZPass benefit has roiled the agency's board of commissioners and focused renewed attention on the widespread perk. John J. Dougherty, a Philadelphia union leader who is one of eight Pennsylvania members of the 16-person DRPA board, stirred up a tempest this month when he asked for records of board members' E-ZPass use going back to 2000.

IF YOU DON'T have E-ZPass, be careful following your GPS or online map when it comes to two interchanges onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The exits are E-ZPass only, and a Turnpike Authority spokesman says motorists who do not have E-ZPass tags could pay a lot more if they accidentally use them. They are Exit 352, the eastbound-only Street Road interchange in Bensalem, and Exit 340, the westbound-only Virginia Drive Interchange near the Fort Washington Office Center in Upper Dublin Township.

T HE DELAWARE River Port Authority has wasted millions of dollars of toll payers' money through mismanagement and political cronyism, the New Jersey state comptroller said in a damning report Thursday. Comptroller Matthew Boxer chastised the DRPA for practices such as its much-criticized "economic development" spending and its now-halted free E-ZPass benefits for DRPA executives and their families and friends. Boxer also exposed an insurance payback deal allegedly orchestrated by George E. Norcross III, the South Jersey insurance executive and Democratic Party power broker who is chairman of the board of Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

The Delaware River Port Authority has wasted millions of dollars of toll payers' money through mismanagement and political cronyism, the New Jersey state comptroller said in a damning report issued Thursday. Comptroller Matthew Boxer chastised the DRPA for practices such as its much-criticized "economic development" spending and its now-halted free E-ZPass benefits for DRPA executives and their families and friends. Boxer also exposed an insurance payback deal allegedly orchestrated by George E. Norcross III, the South Jersey insurance executive and Democratic Party power broker who is chairman of the board of Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

Philadelphia-area commuters should welcome a plan that could spare them the daily slog through choke points along the Pennsylvania Turnpike. With its recently unveiled initiative for all-electronic tolling over the next five years, the Turnpike Commission offers motorists hope for relief over the long term. Beyond speeding travel, the phasing out of cash tolls and plazas should improve safety and enable turnpike officials to moderate future toll increases. In fact, the toll plan could cut costs for thousands of turnpike motorists right now. These are drivers who have resisted signing up for an E-ZPass payment account, meaning they're already paying about 17 percent more in cash tolls as a result of a differential put in place recently.

Better get that E-ZPass. The Pennsylvania Turnpike's plan for all-electronic tolling envisions a 76 percent surcharge for motorists who don't use E-ZPass devices. That means a trip across Pennsylvania from Ohio to New Jersey that costs $30.17 with E-ZPass would cost $53.10 for a driver who would be billed by mail. The turnpike is moving to do away with all toll booths and instead charge drivers as they pass at highway speed under overhead gantries equipped with electronic readers and cameras.

Better get that E-ZPass. The Pennsylvania Turnpike's plan for all-electronic tolling envisions a 76 percent surcharge for motorists who don't use E-ZPass devices. That means a trip across Pennsylvania from Ohio to New Jersey that costs $30.17 with E-ZPass would cost $53.10 for a driver who would be billed by mail. The turnpike is moving to do away with all toll booths and instead charge drivers as they pass at highway speed under overhead gantries equipped with electronic readers and cameras.

A $1,200 toll on the Pennsylvania Turnpike? It's right there, on the new toll schedules that take effect Sunday: A Class 9 vehicle that travels the length of the main turnpike owes $1,237.05 in cash. But that's for a truck weighing more than 100,000 pounds. Drivers of passenger cars who make the same trek will pay $30.80 traveling west and $35.55 going east as a 10 percent increase in cash tolls - the fourth in four years - kicks in. Motorists who have E-ZPass are being spared any increase, as the Turnpike Commission continues to encourage use of the electronic toll collection method that is now in the vehicles of more than 60 percent of turnpike patrons.

THERE ARE two very different ways to have a case heard in Philadelphia's Traffic Court, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille explained yesterday. Most drivers show up, present evidence about their ticket and wait to see how a judge rules. A politically connected person can make arrangements ahead of time for favorable treatment. With the FBI now crawling all over Traffic Court, the Supreme Court yesterday removed Administrative Judge Michael Sullivan from his post, replaced him with Common Pleas Judge Gary Glazer and announced that it is launching its own inquiry.

As plans proceed to widen the Scudder Falls Bridge and convert it to a toll bridge, a public hearing is scheduled for Thursday on the latest assessment of traffic impacts. The busy bridge connects Pennsylvania and New Jersey north of Yardley and Trenton. The new assessment concludes that motorists seeking to avoid the new tolls would not increase congestion on nearby roads and bridges. The analysis suggests the rebuilt bridge would reduce regional traffic congestion because motorists would find the bridge "a more attractive travel alternative, even with a toll.

NEW YORK - Travelers will have to pay more to enter New York City from New Jersey after the agency that owns the World Trade Center and most of the transportation links into Manhattan voted Friday to raise tolls, partly to cover the soaring costs of rebuilding at ground zero. Board members of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey voted to gradually raise tolls at tunnels and bridges for cars without an E-ZPass electronic-payment device from $8 to $15 in 2015. Fares on the Port Authority Trans Hudson subway will go from $1.75 to $2.75, increasing 25 cents each year for four years.