Drivers No Longer Need Cash at Lincoln Tunnel – NBC New York (47)

NEW YORK – Drivers will no longer have to fumble for cash or loose change to pay the $16 toll to pass through the Lincoln Tunnel.

That’s because the Lincoln Tunnel stopped accepting cash payments starting Sunday. The tunnel becomes the sixth and final Port Authority crossing to fully switch to electronic billing.

The switch to cashless tolling was previously completed on the George Washington Bridge in July, the Holland Tunnel in 2020, and all three Staten Island bridges in 2019.

Toll payments will now be collected via the E-ZPass or Toll-By-Mail system. Drivers without E-ZPass needn’t worry. Photos of the license plates in transit are taken by the cameras above and an invoice for the toll amount is sent by post.

The change, which will take a long time, is expected to reduce journey times, emissions and the number of traffic accidents at the intersection. Traffic accidents on Staten Island bridges caused by stop-go and combined traffic have decreased by 70% since cash payments were eliminated, according to the Port Authority.

The agency estimates that eliminating lanes and toll booths will be a big savings. They said drivers would save around 1.3 million liters of fuel a year and help reduce 11,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

Cash desks were shut down early Sunday morning. Sentimental drivers will see them for a bit longer before crews destroy the relics and remove them on a phased schedule to limit traffic disruption.

“Toll booths have served us well in the past, when toll collection required someone to accept coins or tickets for passage, but at some point nostalgia must give way to technological advances that improve our lives, which for many of We in this region rotate during our daily commute,” Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole said.

The Port Authority is seeing traffic return to pre-pandemic levels. In July, the agency recorded more than 3.4 million vehicles passing through the Lincoln Tunnel, a traffic volume similar to that of July 2019.

The Lincoln Tunnel debt collector station will be reassigned to other positions “if they wish to continue working for the agency.”

One thing frequent travelers should be aware of: the rideshare discount plan is on hold indefinitely. The port authority says its current technology is unable to track the number of passengers in the car. They hope to find new tools to track and recover the program.