Starting June 17, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission will no longer accept cash for tolls on the New Hope-Lambertville (Route 202) Toll Bridge.
The upcoming change is part of the commission’s larger effort to phase out cash tolling across its bridges.
The New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge, which connects Bucks County and Hunterdon County, along with the low-traffic-volume Portland-Columbia (Routes 611, 46, 94) and Milford-Montague (Route 206) toll bridges, will cease cash toll collections as of 11 p.m. on June 16.
Beginning June 17, only Toll-By-Plate and E-ZPass will be accepted, officials said.
The move towards cashless tolling was initially announced months ago as part of a phased plan.
The first step in this transition occurred in January when the commission introduced a system-wide Toll-By-Plate payment option.
The full conversion to all-electronic tolling at all Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission toll bridges is expected to be completed by January 2025, officials said.
For motorists without E-ZPass, Toll-By-Plate captures vehicle license plate information, allowing the commission to mail a bill to the registered owner. However, this option comes at a higher cost. While E-ZPass users pay $1.50 per car toll, Toll-By-Plate users are charged $3.
Despite the upcoming changes, the New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge will continue to operate a limited number of toll lanes. Any open lane will process both E-ZPass and Toll-By-Plate transactions without separate lanes, with clear signage instructing motorists to keep moving through the toll area, officials said.
E-ZPass remains the dominant payment method at the commission’s toll bridges and makes up more than 86 percent of transactions system-wide.
At the New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge, E-ZPass transactions make up 93 percent of the crossings.
For now, other high-volume bridges, including the Trenton-Morrisville (Route 1), I-78, Easton-Phillipsburg (Route 22), and Delaware Water Gap (I-80) Toll Bridges, will continue to accept cash alongside E-ZPass and Toll-By-Plate.
Those bridges are slated to convert to cashless tolling by January 2025.
The Scudder Falls Toll Bridge that connects Bucks County and Mercer County has been fully cashless since its first span opened in 2019.
The New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge, which currently has no toll and is being renovated, will continue to be free.
The commission’s transition to system-wide cashless tolling will eventually include the removal of existing barrier toll plazas and the installation of highway-speed all-electronic tolling gantries.
Design work for this phase is expected to begin soon, and the New Hope-Lambertville (Route 202) Toll Bridge being the first to receive a cashless gantry in 2025, officials said.
The transition matches similar actions by other tolling agencies, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, to eliminate cash collections.
As of December 2023, the commission employed 370 staff, down from 400 in 2019, and ceased hiring full-time toll collectors in early 2020.
From the commission:
Toll Assessment
With cashless tolling in place, the Commission’s electronic tolling equipment will assess the toll charges for E-ZPass-equipped motorists and for motorists who do not have E-ZPass. The payment process for E-ZPass users will remain unchanged. However, a non-E-ZPass-equipped motorist will have his/her vehicle license plate image captured by overhead camera. The registered vehicle owner will then be sent an invoice after 30 days or once the recorded tolled trips on that vehicle exceeds $50, whichever comes first.
Prompt payment is crucial, it prevents the assessment of additional fees and possible future penalties.
TOLL BY PLATE Payments
Payment can be mailed, or the billed individual can go online to pay with a credit card through the New Jersey E-ZPass website. Individuals wishing to pay their toll bill by cash currently have limited options: they can either travel to the New Jersey E-ZPass Customer Service Center’s walk-in centers in Newark, N.J., Camden, N.J. and New Castle, DE. Those addresses are available at this webpage: https://www.ezpassnj.com/en/about/csc.shtml.
If payment is not received by the bill’s prescribed deadline (usually 30 days of issuance), a second bill gets generated with an additional $5 toll bill late fee.
Failure to pay this second billing on time results in the TOLL BY PLATE bill being escalated to a toll violation. The $5 toll bill late fee gets reversed, and a $30 administration fee is assessed for each overdue toll transaction. A violation notice is then mailed to the vehicle owner. If the new escalated amount owed remains unpaid by the violation notice’s payment deadline, a second violation notices gets generated. If that remains unpaid, the violation is advanced to a collection agency.
Get E-ZPass to Avoid Higher Toll Rates and Possible Fees, Penalties
E-ZPass is the most convenient, efficient, and cheapest option for paying tolls. The Commission’s 2024 toll rates for E-ZPass transactions are up to 50-percent less than the rates for cash and TOLL BY PLATE transactions.
To establish an E-ZPass account with the Commission’s toll-processing service provider – the regional New Jersey E-ZPass Customer Service Center – go to: www.ezpassnj.com. If an individual has questions or needs assistance, the Commission’s customer service number is 800-363-0049.
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