Starting Monday, Parkway drivers better have exact change
$50 violation fee goes into effect Monday
WOODBRIDGE — For toll cheats who have used the Garden State Parkway exact-change lanes like a personal ATM for a free ride, life is about to get more honest and expensive starting Monday morning.
Video cameras will be used in the 84 exact-change lanes on the Parkway to nab toll cheats. For the habitual offender, that administrative notice of a toll violation carries a $50 price tag.
There are 3.2 million reasons Parkway officials have stepped up enforcement. That’s the amount in dollars lost to toll violators this year up to September, said Tom Feeney, spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which runs the Parkway. Last year, $4 million in revenue was lost to exact-change lane violators, he said
“Up to now, we’ve enforced it with humans — three toll enforcement officers who stand in the booth behind a one-way mirror and write down license plate numbers (of offenders) and the vehicle owner gets a $55 summons,” Feeney said. “With three officers for 84 lanes, the odds of getting caught were slim. Now the odds will be against repeat offenders.”
The change happens at 12:01 a.m. Monday, when video cameras that were installed in all the lanes when E-ZPass was implemented will be used for exact-change lane enforcement, he said. The move to use the cameras was done because while 17 percent of toll transactions are handled in exact-change lanes, 53 percent of the toll violations on the Parkway take place at those tollbooths, Feeney said.
