Cashless Tolls To Begin On Grand Island At The End Of The Month

After years of talking about going completely cashless on the Grand Island Bridges and day has finally been set. The  NYS Thruway Authority announced Wednesday that the cashless tolls will "go live" on the bridges on Thursday, March 29th. This means as of morning on the 30th the tolls on the island will no longer accept cash. The toll workers that worked on Grand Island will be reassigned to other toll plazas in the region.

Governor Cuomo said this of the transition,

"By transitioning the Grand Island barriers to cashless tolling we will be saving time and easing congestion, allowing drivers to get where they need to go quicker and more efficiently."

Hopefully this will help the congestion on the bridges and flow traffic better during the high traffic times! If you're wondering how this will work for the drivers who do not have EZ passes, they also covered that in the press release and conference,

"Vehicles with E-ZPass tags are automatically charged. Non-E-ZPassvehicles have their license plates recorded and a bill is mailed to the registered owner of each vehicle in approximately 30 days. Customers who pay using Tolls ByMail will pay the same toll rate as previously paid by cash customers, and E-ZPass customers with New York accounts will continue to get a five percent discount. The cash rate for the toll will remain $1."

For awhile you will continue through the current booths at a reduced speed as they start the transition and take the booths out and refigure the lanes. After the project is completed it should be smooth sailing!

TIP: Make sure your address is current on your license and registration so the bill gets to you to pay it! If not, you could see a suspension for unpaid tolls. 

On hand at the press conference was former Buffalo Bills running bak Thurman Thomas who has been the spokesperson for the the new cashless tolls. You may have seen him on tv in a head turning, double take commercial getting you ready for the cashless tolls arrival.

"When I played football for the Buffalo Bills nothing stopped me...except tollbooths!"

So funny! I think the message will work though because that is not what you expected to come out of Thurman's mouth!  You can see the commercial HERE.

You can read more about the project and cashless tolls through out the state HERE.