
Your cash is no good at Holland Tunnel toll booths starting Wednesday
Staring Wednesday, cash is gone forever as a method to pay the $16 toll at the Holland Tunnel.
The tunnel between Jersey City and Lower Manhattan will be the first Port Authority Hudson River crossing to use cashless toll collection and joins the authorities’ Staten Island bridges which already use all electronic toll collection.
Toll systems at the George Washington Bridge and the Lincoln Tunnel are scheduled to be upgraded to the new modern system within the next 18 months, officials said.
“This new toll collection system upgrades the Holland Tunnel with the most up-to-date cashless technology which will be more resilient and provide the agency faster processing times,” said Kevin O’Toole, Port Authority board chairman.
Cashless tolls were temporarily used starting in March during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Cash tolls returned in October only at the Lincoln Tunnel and George Washington Bridge.
Port Authority officials had intended for its Hudson River crossings to use all electronic toll collection before New York City implemented congestion pricing that would charge drivers a fee for traveling below 61st Street - which will fund the subway system.
However the goal of having congestion pricing working in 2021 could be delayed until 2023 because of issues in receiving federal environmental approvals and.
Drivers without an E-ZPass account will be billed for their tolls after a photo of their license plate is recorded by overhead cameras. A bill for the toll is then sent by mail to the vehicle’s registered owner.
The Port Authority commissioners approved the new cashless tolling system for the George Washington Bridge and Lincoln and Holland tunnels in 2019.
Cashless tolling was first implemented at the Bayonne Bridge in February 2017, the Outerbridge Crossing in April 2019, and the New Goethals Bridge in September 2019.
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