The New York State Thruway Authority confirmed Friday that cashless tolls will go live at the Grand Island Bridges in March.
Customers who use the Grand Island Bridges are encouraged to take advantage of a February promotion for new E-ZPass customers.
The Thruway Authority announced the discount incentive at the end of January. To qualify for a $10 account credit, new customers have to purchase an E-ZPass On-The-Go tag at one of the more than 780 locations across the state and register it from Thursday, Feb. 1 through Monday, Feb. 26, 2018.
You then have to take ten trips on the New York State Thruway in six months.
When open road, cashless tolling begins in March, there will be no more toll barriers at the North and South Grand Island Bridges.
Instead, there will be tolling gantries that have sensors and cameras suspended over the highway that include state-of-the-art technology which reads E-ZPass tags and takes license plate images, so vehicles no longer have to stop to pay the toll.
Vehicles with E-ZPass tags are automatically charged, and vehicles with an E-ZPass get an five percent discount at the Grand Island Bridges and across the entire State Thruway system.
Vehicles without a tag have their license plate photographed and a toll bill will then be mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle. The transition to cashless tolling will not affect the Grand Island resident discount program.
E-ZPass On-The-Go tags are available as a prepackaged tag for $25. Customers can register the tag online or by calling 1-800-697-1554. The $25 is credited to the customer’s account and the tag becomes active in 24 hours.