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Cuomo to Remove Toll Booths & Increase Cops at Bridges & Tunnels

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The Queens Midtown tunnel is just one of the venues that are set to get cashless tolling in January.

In an effort to curtail the amount of riders that dodge payment of fines at MTA bridges and tunnels, Governor Cuomo has announced his plans to implement an “open road” tolling system to be put into effect next year. The new system will have an automated scanning system which will automatically scan license plates and check them against a registry of vehicles with suspended registrations due to toll both violations. If the system detects a license plate that belongs to a vehicle with a suspended registration do to toll violations, troopers will be on hand to pull over the suspect vehicles said police superintendent George Beach.

The effort is part of Governor Cuomo’s plan to put an end to fee evasion. The system in place is bound to lead to positive outcomes since each license plate will be scanned and the system will also deter past and future offenders from skimping out on fines.

An overhaul of the tolling system on many major bridges and tunnels are also planned. The Hugh L. Carrey and the Queens Midtown tunnel are set to get cashless tolling in their tunnels in January. The Rockaway Bridges, Robert F. Kennedy, Verrazano, Whitestone and Throgs Neck Bridges will get the technology between spring and fall.

The cashless system will either deduct money from the accounts of passengers that have Ex-Pass, or send a monthly invoice to passengers that do not have Ex-Pass. MTA chair said of the plan, “We are very serious about revenue collection….just because you don’t go through the tool booths, don’t think we don’t have your license plate and accounting of who owes the tool.”

Additional laws that enable to crack down on fee evasion will also including one that will suspend the license of drivers that have evaded payment of tolls three times in the last five years. Another will increase the fine for toll evasion from $50 to $100. The state also plans to add 150 troopers to the force that will apprehend dodge tool fees.

The city has also run new commercials to incentivize drivers to purchase Ex-Pass, and the use of cashless tolling. Actor John Leguizamo reminds New Yorker’s that they can save up to 50 % on tolls by purchasing Ex-Pass. “So you can do this the hard way, or the easy way” Leguizamo opines in the commercial.

By: Kyle Hernandez

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