N.J. Turnpike Authority extends toll collectors' contract but plans to eliminate all jobs in 2 years

[The Straight Story]

N.J. Turnpike Authority extends toll collectors' contract but plans to eliminate all jobs in 2 years

Take a good look at the person handing out dollars and coins in that toll booth on the New Jersey Turnpike or Garden State Parkway.

You are seeing an endangered species.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which oversees the Turnpike and Parkway, ratified an agreement today to extend the contract of toll collectors for two more years. Unions agreed to a series of concessions, including salary cuts of about 25 percent — from around $65,000 a year to $49,500 annually — by the end of the contract.

But the intention is to eliminate all toll collecting jobs when the contract expires June 30, 2013.

State Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson said even though 70 percent of drivers use E-ZPass, it costs twice as much to staff the cash lanes. So the plan two summers from now is to put toll collectors in the same category as the ice truck and buggy whip.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/04/nj_turnpike_authority_accepted.html

[bbinacan]

1. A toll road in NC

now being built is completely automated.

[madinmaryland]

6. There is one being built in MD that is also completely automated.

If you don't have an EZ-Pass, they will mail you the bill for the toll plus a three dollar fee.

[RKP5637]

2. Eventually most Americans will be just walking the streets. As productivity and

efficiencies increase, and new technologies emerge, many Americans are being left out. We need to retool for the 21st century, but our leaders, the wealth and the current paradigm for what a society and economic system are makes that impossible.

[HockeyMom]

3. What if you are driving from out of state

and don't have an E-ZPass? Other state passes will not work if you are far enough out of the area. Been there, done that driving from Florida to New York. DC is about the cutoff for these passes.

I suppose to "accommodate" their out of state drivers, they will now have to install credit card machines to pay for the tolls. How much will that cost?

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. In, FL, they will take a picture of the license plate and send a bill to

the owner of the car.

[DainBramaged]

4. More Union busting

[LiberalEsto]

7. same catergory as newspaper reporters too

I used to be one of those newspaper reporters, and part of my beat was the NJ Turnpike and its toll collectors


sigh