E-Toll in NY New York now beyond 50% e-toll

E-Toll in NY

New York now beyond 50% e-toll — 2 million tags in use by April

The New York area now collects over half its tolls by electronic toll collection (ETC). The 50% mark was passed during February by our calculations, based on statistics supplied by the three area tollsters. The largest the Triborough Bridge & Tunnel Authority (also known as MTA Bridges & Tunnels) which runs 7 New York City bridges and 2 City tunnels is at 61% electronic, the Port Authority with runs 4 bridges and 2 tunnel crossings of the Hudson River is now at 40% electronic, and the New York State Thruway, a toll motorway that runs the length of the state, is at 25% e-toll. Weighting them by volume we get the end-Feb percentage as 51%.

Another landmark figure soon to be passed will be the 2 millionth e-tag to go into service. The latest statistics we’ve got from the three New York area tollsters show that early March there were 1,913,000 electronic toll tags in use with all reporting that they are continuing to add solidly to their stock.

Frank Pascual TBTA spokesman told us that his agency is continuing to ship about 11,000 tags/week, suggesting usage at that agency, which caters heavily to commuters and local business users, could soar to 70% or more by later in the year. The Port Authority (PA)’s conversion to electronics is going gangbusters too. It was the last of the three agency’s to toll electronically, only having switched on its first readers last August, it has seen an extraordinary uptake, going to 40% usage in just 7 months. Of course the PA was able to get rapid electronic take-off because so many of its patrons already had e-tags issued by the Thruway or by the Triboro (TBTA.)

All the tags issued in the New York area are active tags in the 900MHz band manufactured by Mark IV of Mississauga Ontario. Mark IV is the largest supplier of toll tags in North America now with an assured 70% of the North American market for the forseeable future, having been selected by the Inter-Agency Group (IAG) of mid-Atlantic states and subsequently by Illinois. The Mark IV tags are close to the ASTM standard developed by Hughes, the tag which has become a standard in the trucking business. The New York area agencies each issue transponders and operate a clearing house arrangement so that their tags can be used at one another’s facilities. Patrons of different agencies only need a single tag from any of the agencies. The brand name E-ZPass is the logo and marketing name in the IAG area.

The Thruway was the first to introduce electronic tolling, and its ramp up has been the slowest. It has the fewest daily users and the most occasional users of the three agencies being an inter-urban facility. The two crossings agencies TBTA and PA each have relatively simple point toll or barrier systems whereas the Thruway has a mix of point and trip tolling (barriers and tickets). Also the Thruway faced greater vehicle classification problems and began electronic tolling only for light vehicles.

Electronic tolling has reduced the need for both toll collectors and for automatic coin machines. On the TBTA the most dramatic change has been the switch from use of $3 tokens (in automatic coin machines) to e-tags. TBTA ceased sale of tokens late last year, and is scrapping its ACMs.

“They will soon be history” said Frank Pascual of the TBTA. Its lanes are now E-ZPass or Cash (collectors.)

The most troublesome element of the conversion has been maintaining a proper balance between lane offerings and patrons’ rapidly changing payment modes. TBTA got an angry response from patron’s on the Throg’s Neck and Whitestone bridges when it installed too many e-toll lanes too early, causing bad backups in the other lanes. From then on it went more cautiously. The PA began with e-toll at all of its toll lanes. At the start on the George Washington bridge only 5 out of 31 toll lanes were e-toll only but that has now been increased to 9. In rush hours almost 2/3rds of transactions on the George are e-toll. With San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, the George vies for the title of the world’s most heavily trafficked tolled crossings in the world — with some 240k vehs/day.

TBTA never mixed e-toll with manual or coin machine, but it has been switching lanes steadily from coin machine to e-toll and from manual to e-toll..

The problem with mixing payment modes in a lane is that it forces the e-tag holders to wait behind ACM and manual payers, so minimizing the convenience of the e-tags and the incentive to get them. The TBTA’s decision to go directly to dedicated lanes was a bold one, and it has paid off in the rapid uptake of e-tags by patrons.

Larry Yermack, a Parsons Brinckerhoff specialist in electronic tolling says the system has been a spectacular success in New York because it was structured to appeal to patrons: “It offers them two big things — time savings and money savings. Tolls are quite here and the discount (50c) is substantial. And it saves people a lot of time. That’s a pretty attractive combination.” Yermack also says a lot of careful thought and preparation went into the conversion to electronic tolling so the speed and the success of the project is “no accident.” He says it has made electronic tolling the most successful product of ITS.

Daniel Greenbaum of Vollmer Associates says that the New York conversion is very successful, and highly popular with the public because it has speeded their movement through toll plazas quite markedly. He points out that TBTA is sacrificing a bit of revenue through the discount and it remains to be seen how the conversion will affect its bottom line. The same discount was available on tokens and scrip so it is only the conversion from manual payment to e-toll which affects revenue. To the extent traffic throughput is increased the effect of the toll discount is offset.

TBTA spokesman Frank Pascual said the speed with which patrons took to transponders and the rapidity with which the system had to be installed took everyone by surprise. The agency has no numbers yet on how it will affect revenue longer term. About 150 toll collector positions have been abolished (out of 750) and more will probably go — by attrition. He says it is saving the agency in costs of both toll collection staff, machine maintenance and money and token handling, but the agency cannot quantify the savings yet. (Contacts: Frank Pascual TBTA 212 360 3065, Larry Yermack PB 212 465 5000, Dan Greenbaum Vollmer 212 366 5600)